Ninjago AU Oneshots
by CheezPretzel
Summary: A series of Oneshots centered around Ninjago AU's. REQUESTS ARE OPEN, see inside for details! Rated T just to be safe. Latest oneshot: Plasma Mermans!
1. Going Hungry

**A/N: Happy Boxing Day! This story is actually the first in a collection of AU Oneshots. (See bottom for details). I hope you're all having a great winter break!**

**Going Hungry**

"Five, six, seven, eight, nine, _ten_," The gruff Mr. Yang counted out the last of Cole's payment for that day and handed the coins over to the young boy. "Now _scram_."

Cole grabbed the coins and ran out of the lumber mill, jogging up the muddy slope of a nearby hill. He glanced back at his workplace for a moment, trying to keep from slipping on the wet grass.

The Mill looked the same as it always did. A massive gray building rose from the banks of the Columbia River. Inside were housed the eighteen massive water-powered saws that cut timber so it could be shipped. Words were printed on the side of the buildings, which read; _Cascade Rains West Lumber Co._ Cascade Rains was the town where Cole and his brothers lived.

Nestled in the foothills of the Cascade Mountains on the Columbia River, the town was the perfect place for a logging business, which provided most of the income for families living there. Cole turned back towards the town and headed down the streets towards the general store.

A light mist dusted the air, and night was falling. Cole worked from six in the morning to six in the evening to support his family, and the brightness of October was just beginning to yield to the brown of November. Cole was only thirteen years old.

_Congress Discussing Changes to Child Labor Laws. _Read one of the newspapers tacked up on the side of the store. Cole paused to look at the date on the paper; _October 30th, 1930_. It was a Friday, not that that had anything to do for Cole, who worked Saturdays as well.

Entering the general store, Cole looked around for a while. He glanced down at his hands, where he was holding his ten quarters firmly clenched in his fist. Ten quarters. Two dollars and fifty cents.

He was lucky. Other companies, like the _Hamilton Timber Co.,_ paid their child workers even less. Though Cole was a child, Mr. Yang was a fair boss to him. He paid Cole _half_ of what other sawmill owners did.

Cole glanced at the salt pork and the beans, then back at his money. Too expensive. He sighed. He'd have to go with bread again, and hopefully this time there'd be enough to go around.

One year ago, in February, lumber was not in as high demand, causing wages to drop. Cole had barely made enough money in a week to buy one loaf of bread. Those nights had been agony, but seeing his family, especially his youngest 'brother' Jay crying himself to sleep over hunger was torture.

Cole paused and then thought back to the day he had first met Jay.

_Lou Brookstone was a famous dancer. He was a famous singer, too. He was good at dancing and singing. And then, he was dead._

_Which was why Cole ran away from Master Chen's Home For Troubled Orphans. Lous Brookstone was Cole's father, but when he died in a freak stage accident (a water pipe had burst and the ceiling had collapsed) his son Cole was left on his own. Master Chen's Home had seemed like an ideal orphanage at the time, but Cole knew that under Chen's smiling face was a Textiles Factory, where the orphans slaved day and night producing cloth for Chen's business._

_Cole ran away at the ripe age of ten with another orphan named Zane. Both had fled to the railroads and headed west to find work. Unfortunately, farms in the midwest were not hiring little ten-year-olds, which was how, after a year of doing odd jobs to pay for food and railroad fare, Cole and Zane had ended up in Spokane Falls, Washington._

_It was there they met Jay._

_Cole had bought a sandwich, but when an interesting coin had caught his eye, he had left the paper-wrapped sandwich under a stone on the riverbed, before going off to explore. When he returned, however, his sandwich had been stolen!_

_Fortunately, the culprit had left a pair of footprints in the mud on the riverbank, allowing Cole to easily track down the sandwich-thief. _

_Following the footprints, he eventually cornered a little boy in a back alley, who was clutching his sandwich in one hand, terrified. He was wearing a tattered blue shirt and shorts and whimpered when Cole approached him._

"_I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" He cried, holding out the sandwich. "You can have it back! I didn't eat it!"_

_Cole approached him and looked down at the trembling younger boy. "Why'd you take my sandwich?"_

_The younger boy's shaking slowed and he looked up at Cole, a bit confused as if no one had ever asked him that before. "I… was hungry."_

_Cole stared down at the other child for a moment, before he took the sandwich and divided it into three pieces. One he wrapped up in the paper, to save for Zane. The other piece he handed to the other little boy._

"_Thank you?" The boy took the sandwich from Cole and stared at it for a long time before taking a bite._

_Cole smiled at him. "What's your name?"_

"_Jay," Answered the other child, scarfing down the sandwich. "And before you ask, I don't got no parents."_

That was the day when Cole gained a second little brother. Jay was a little brother in the ways that Zane wasn't. Jay was small and thin, with darling blue eyes that people fawned over. He had good ideas and was smart, but it did come with a price. Jay was only seven years old. He couldn't work.

Cole snapped out of his memories to buy a loaf of bread. Sure, a factory owner might hire a child that young, but there was no way Cole was going to let little Jay work in one of those dangerous, dirty factories. He knew what the jobs of young children were. Being so small, they could climb up inside a machine to replace a broken belt or mend a cog, but that wasn't anywhere near safe.

Back at Master Chen's, Cole had seen a boy named Jacob torn apart by one of the machines there, and thinking of Jay in the same place made Cole want to cover his head and scream for hours.

No. Cole did all he could so Jay would have a semi-normal childhood. As normal as a homeless orphan in a tiny logging town in southwestern Washington State could have.

Purchasing the bread, Cole headed through the town to an abandoned farmhouse on the edges of Cascade Rains.

He approached the farmhouse and lifted a broken board at the base, before lying down on his stomach and squirming through the hole. Then he crossed the empty cellar of the abandoned building before coming up to a ladder that leads through the ceiling. He climbed up towards where feeble candlelight was shining down the cracks in the floorboards.

_It was Zane who had discovered the farmhouse. Jay and Cole had followed him through the hole in the cellar and climbed up the old ladder to the first floor of the building._

"_I don't know," Cole had told Zane. "It seems kind of unstable."_

"_Check out this view!" Jay had injected before Zane could respond, pulling the mothball-ridden curtains open to reveal a gorgeous view down to the town, with the river and majestic mountains in the background._

_Jay had fallen in love with the farmhouse, it was close enough to Cole's workplace, and Zane was happy as long as his brothers were happy._

Cole smiled at his memory then climbed up the last few rungs of the ladder to the first floor. He looked around. Zane was sitting and looking out the window, and Jay and Kai were sprawled out over what passed as the bed; a pile of blankets in the middle of the floor.

No one knew Kai's whole story, not because he never told anyone, but just because he kept changing it every time someone asked him. The first story was that he was a runaway from Canada and was raised by bears, and the whole thing went downhill from there.

The only thing Cole knew for sure about Kai was that Kai had just… shown up… one day and everyone had accepted him. It was what they did. No one had questioned it.

"What do you like best to eat?" Jay asked Kai, stretching out across the bed.

"Apple pie," Kai answered, squirming a bit. "And roast beef and green beans. You?"

"Crumb cake," Jay nodded to himself. "And pumpkin pie and acorn squash and-" He spotted Cole across the room and interrupted himself. "COLE!"

Cole smiled at Jay. "Hi, Jay."

Kai sat up, looking disgruntled and Zane turned away from the window. All three of them approached Cole happily, who sat down at the table.

'What'd you get this time?" Jay asked, bouncing on his knees since he was too short to sit up to the table.

"Some bread," Cole answered, opening the package and dividing the bread into four pieces, which he passed out.

Kai and Zane struck up a conversation that had something to do with bears and lightning bugs, and Jay munched on his bread happily. He was a talkative kid when he wanted to be, but right now it appeared he was content with his bread.

Cole stared down at the chunk of bread in his hands, then looked up at his brothers. Crying rang in his ears, the same way it had done last February when they had almost starved to death in the cold. With a sigh, Cole realized that Jay needed the bread more than he did, and when Jay wasn't looking, Cole slipped it onto his plate.

Later, a sharp pang of hunger pierced Cole's midsection, but he ignored it. All four of them were in bed. Kai was pressed back-to-back with Zane, and Jay was curled up against Kai. When Cole had come to lay down in bed, Jay had let out a soft, satisfied sigh and squirmed a little until he was pressed against both Cole and Kai, and was now happily asleep.

Cole smiled softly, but hunger panged through his midsection again. He swallowed, then looked down at his brothers, knowing that they didn't have to suffer the same torment. Not now, not this winter, and hopefully not ever.

Jay made a noise in his sleep and moved against Cole, who smiled a little wider. Jay wasn't hungry. Kai wasn't hungry. Zane wasn't hungry.

Cole was hungry, but he would suffer for his brothers like this any day. As long as they were safe, he had no problem going hungry.

_**Going Hungry**_ **is actually the first of a collection of AU oneshots! And before you ask, yes I do take suggestions, but there are a few rules you have to follow to submit an idea.**

**Rules:**

**First of all, make sure your request adheres to the site guidelines. (No songfics, no real-life people, no lemon/limes, no interactive entries, etc...)**

**Please wait a minimum of three (OTHER PEOPLE'S) stories before requesting again.**

**I CAN and **_WILL_ **refuse certain ideas on personal grounds. I apologize in advance if this offends you, but this is my collection, and I will chose what goes on in it.**

**Not all of the stories have to be pairings. They can be friendships, parent-child love, or brother-sister stories. **

**That said, shipping _is_ allowed on a few conditions.**

**No incest. Absolutely none. That means no Kai/Nya, no Lloyd/Wu, etc…**

**No weird age gaps. Ex. (Lloyd/Mistaké, Wu/Cole)**

**No lemons.**

**BoyXBoy and GirlXGirl are allowed.**

**No OC's.**

**No more than three-way ships. I can properly write three people, but after that, it gets too difficult (This might change, BTW)**

**Submit an AU idea. (ex. Medieval, Cavemen, Futuristic, Fantasy, etc…) **

**The AU must be readily available and have information on it. **

**If you don't submit an AU but submit a ship, I will pick an AU to go with your ship, either by pairing it with someone else's idea or by making up my own.**

**No crossovers.**

**I will write in order of urgency, not necessarily order of submission.**

**I might lump ideas together (For example, if twelve people ask for Lavashipping, I will probably only write four stories for that respective ship. (especially if only four people send AU's to go along with it.)**

**These are ONE-shots after all, but if an idea is too good or too long, I may divide it into two chapters.**

**I can break any of these rules whenever I want to.**

**Submit ideas via review or PM.**

**Note**

_**PLEASE** **DO NOT**_** disrespect characters. I enjoy writing for these fictional people, but I don't want to hear any 'so-and-so shouldn't be in the show' or 'x and y' would be better than a canon ship. I feel that these characters all help to aid in the experience of Ninjago, whether or not you like them. This applies especially to Skylor and P.I.X.A.L, who are sometimes hated on simply because they are love interests who were added later. I am happy to write requests, but it makes me sad when people tell me that they hate 'X character' for some random reason. Thank you!**

**End Note**


	2. Sunset

**Request: Lavashipping**

**Requested by: ReallyIntroverty**

**Warnings: N/A**

**AU: Elven/Magical**

**Sunset:**

Cole rubbed his hands together in an attempt to warm them as he moved through the dark caverns of his underground home. Cole was a tunneler, a magically advanced species that lived underground, far from the sun. Normally, the caverns were not so empty, but today, they were barren.

A few visiting Fireborn had come from above in a diplomatic party, and Cole was expected to attend the celebrations. Not that he wanted to. In fact, a mug of hot chocolate, a slice of red velvet cake, and all four seasons of his favorite show (Nexo Knights) sounded really good right now.

He slipped through the shadows towards the banquet hall where the visiting Fireborn were feasting and making small talk along with the most prestigious of King Yang's court. Cole's father did not serve on the royal court, but rather he was a dancer that would be performing this evening.

With an anxious sigh, Cole prepared to step into the busy hall when a red blur came flying out and crashed into him.

"Oof!" He grunted.

"Oof is right," grumbled the boy who was sprawled out over Cole's chest. He didn't move, and Cole sighed, looking down at his attacker. The other boy was slightly taller than Cole, and leaner than him as well. He had lightly tanned skin and brown hair, with tiny freckles dotting his cheeks. The boy was wearing a red shirt and pants, and with a jolt, Cole realized that he wasn't a Tunneler, but rather, a Fireborn!

The other boy pulled himself off Cole with a grunt. "Sorry. I didn't see you there. I'm Kai. What's your name?"

"Oh," Cole picked himself up off the ground so he could stand face-to-face with Kai. "I'm Cole. Cole Brookstone."

"Cool," Kai answered with a grin. "Why were you hiding in the shadows anyway?"

Cole raised an eyebrow. "Why were you running out of the hall like your life depended on it?"

"Oh my first spinjitzu master," Kai sighed. "If I had to hear another person grumble about how the price of granite is going up, I would have clawed my own ears off!"

Cole stifled a chuckle. That had not been what he had expected. "So um, you're a Fireborn… right?"

"Yeah," Kai answered, looking up at Cole's face. "Don't worry, I won't light anything on fire…. Maybe."

"Maybe?" Cole asked.

"I'm under strict orders from my father not to cause any landslides or change any lives or burn anything, but then again, I really hate rules, so, watch your back, landslides," Kai answered with a grin.

Cole's heart pounded a little. "Your father brought you with him?"

Kai shrugged. "He couldn't exactly leave me at home. Not that I wanted to come. It's kind of dark down here, and…"

"Cold?" Cole suggested.

"I was going to say closed-in, but sure, that works too," Kai nodded. "So what do you guys even do down here? Do you ever go up and see the sun?"

"I mean, sometimes," Cole lied. In reality, he had only ever been up to the surface once. It was not something he thought about a lot. His entire world was under these mountains, why should he need the outside world? "Why?"

"I think I could find the tunnel that we came in through," Kai answered. "You wanna go?"

"That's a terrible-" Cole started, but didn't get to finish as Kai had turned around and took off down one end of the tunnel. Cole sighed but ran after him.

Fortunately, Kai's red clothing stood out brightly against the dull gray of the walls, and Cole easily tracked the Fireborn through the tunnels until Kai made a right turn and disappeared. Cole looked around for a moment.

"Over here," Kai called from one of the side tunnels in the wall. It was a ventilation tunnel, but considering where they were in the mountains, it was close enough to the surface that they could probably climb out of it.

Cole sighed and followed Kai up the tunnel and through the mountains until Kai shoved aside a rock and climbed out into the open air.

Cole followed him anxiously, sticking his head out of the tunnel. He almost let go and fell back at what he saw.

Brilliant shades of orange, topaz, and tangerine mingled with the pale blues of the sky, coloring in a blazing sunset. Cole stared until his eyes smarted and he had to look away.

"Cool, right?" Kai asked, looking down at Cole. He deflated slightly. "You can come out of the hole, you know."

"I'm perfectly fine right here," Cole answered. To be frank, Cole didn't really like being outside the mountains. Everything was so big and huge and gigantic and terrifying. The sky was so open, it felt like anything could just leap out and attack him.

"You sure?" Kai asked, coming to sit next to the hole.

"Yeah, I'm good," Cole pulled himself out a little farther. "Is this where you guys live?"

"Well, yes, but actually no," Kai answered. He pointed towards the valleys to the west. "The Fireborn live in that valley over there. Next to it is the rainforest, where Master Chen and his Followers live, and next to that is the Lightning Woods."

"Huh," Cole watched the sunset. "Cool, I guess."

"Eh, you seen 'em once, you seen 'em all," Kai answered with a shrug. "Let's go back inside."

That night was one of the happiest of Cole's life. There was feasting, dancing, singing, and of course, plenty of time for him to hang out with Kai. Even when his dad performed, Cole found himself cheering and laughing with everyone else, instead of hiding under a table lie he normally would.

Two days later, the Fireborn left the mountains. Kai and Cole had exchanged addresses and promised to write, and, since their kingdoms were allies, maybe one day they could visit each other. Cole wanted to meet Kai's mother and his little sister, and Kai really wanted to explore more of the underground Tunneler civilization.

Cole walked back to his room, rubbing his hands together in an attempt to warm them as he thought about the night he had first met Kai. He had never thought that running into a Fireborn would have such an impact on his life, but it had.

And Cole was glad to have it.

**A/N: Eh, awkward ending is awkward. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it!**


	3. The Book Spirit

**Request: Jadestorm/Morrumi**

**Requested by: NinjagoGeek4EVER**

**Warnings: Mentions of self-harm, suicide.**

**AU: Library ghost**

**A/N: I originally had this idea for bruiseshipping, but I think I like this version (whoops, almost wrote Verizon) better. Also, the **_**Fairy Adventures**_ **books are a spoof of the **_**Rainbow Magic**_ **series, which has over 300 books and takes up five shelves of library space. **

**Book Spirit**

The first time Harumi met him, she thought nothing of it.

The Ninjago Public Library didn't have the book she was looking for. _Fairy Adventures: Nya the Water Fairy._ She had looked all over, from the shelves to the returns chute, and she couldn't find it!

"Hello?" A voice asked. "Are you looking for something?"

"Yeah," She answered. "The 72nd _Fairy Adventures_ book."

There was a shuffling noise, and then the same person tapped her on the shoulder. "Here."

"Thanks," She took the book and looked up to see the face of her library guardian angel, but… no one was there. It was like they'd just… vanished.

She thought nothing of it and left the library with her book.

* * *

The second time Harumi met him, she was more than a little concerned.

This time she wasn't looking for a pleasure book. This time, she was a sixth-grader with a mission. That mission: Snow Leopards.

Harumi had to do a presentation in front of her whole Earth Science class about an endangered animal, and she had been assigned the Snow Leopard. Kind of borning, she would admit, but Harumi was also a little curious to learn more about this elusive 'ghost cat'.

She was wandering through the nonfiction section when she got the odd feeling that someone was following her. Whirling around, she came face-to-face with a boy a little older than she was.

"Hey," He said, then held out the novel he was holding. "I thought you might like this."

Harumi couldn't stop staring at him. He was slightly taller than she was, with long-ish black hair with a dyed streak through it. That wasn't the most striking thing about him.

The boy was transparent.

Actually, he wasn't entirely transparent. Closer to translucent. His skin was a soft shade of green, but Harumi couldn't see entirely through him. She looked down at the book he was holding and realized that it was a collection of short stories on the supernatural.

"What's this?" She asked him.

He shrugged. "It's okay if you don't want it."

"No, it looks interesting," Harumi said. "I just don't know… who are you?"

He pushed the book into her hands and smiled. "My name is Morro."

Harumi took the book, but the second she did, he vanished.

_That's odd._ She thought, flipping through the collection of stories and stopping at one European legend of book spirits, ghosts who resided in libraries and helped people find what they were looking for.

Harumi looked back up at where Morro had been standing. A book spirit. Interesting.

* * *

The third time Harumi met him, she was ecstatic.

"Why are you so happy?" Morro asked, gliding across the floor as a fifteen-year-old Harumi looked through the romance section of the library.

"I met someone today," She answered. "His name is Lloyd Garmadon, and he's, oh, you wouldn't believe it, he's amazing! He has this soft, blond hair, and these beautiful green eyes, and the way he looks at me…" She trailed off when she realized that Morro was staring at her coldly. "What?"

Morro shook his head, and the angry expression on his face disappeared. "Nothing," He answered flatly. "I'm happy for you."

"Is something wrong?" Harumi asked. "You seem… colder… than usual."

"Nothing's wrong," Morro insisted defensively. "I was simply thinking of things from my time. Not yours. This is none of your business."

"Was it something I said?" Harumi asked, looking up at him with concerned eyes. Her eyes narrowed and she stared at him. "Is this about Lloyd?"

Morro sighed. "I have a history with that family line." He averted her gaze, then sighed. "It's not important."

Harumi stepped closer to Morro. "Morro-"

He cut her off by pushing the romance novel he was holding into her hands and then quickly vanishing. Harumi stared at where he'd been standing and sighed, looking down at the book in her hands.

_Jadestorm_ read the title. _A tale of fearlessness, the supernatural, and romance._

Harumi smiled and opened the novel.

* * *

The fourth time Harumi met him, she sought him out.

Sobbing quietly, Harumi made her way to one of the small window seats at the back of the reference section. No one was there but her, as it was late at night. She sniffed and wiped her cheeks, climbing onto one of the window seats and glancing around the room.

"Morro?" She called softly. "Are you there?"

There was a soft _whoosh_ noise, and the pages of the dictionary across the room fluttered. Harumi hugged her knees to her chest and waited, as a small green light floated down the shelves and came to rest in front of her, slowly turning into her ghostly friend. He was holding the script of a play.

"Yes?" He asked moving to hover next to her, as ghosts couldn't technically sit. "Harumi… what's wrong?"

"Lloyd broke up with me," She sighed, playing with a strand of her white-blond hair.

Morro made a noise in his throat that resembled a growl. "Of course he did."

Harumi sniffed and looked up at Morro with a confused expression. "Is this about your history with his family, or-"

"I'll start at the beginning," Morro explained. "Lloyd's great uncle, Wu, was the man who raised-and then abandoned-me. I thought I could trust him, and then, right when I needed him the most, he refused to help me." Morro sighed. "Look around you. This is where I died."

"This exact spot?" Harumi asked, a chill creeping down her spine.

"Close," Morro answered. "This portion of the library hadn't been constructed yet. I was so mad at Wu, and I…" He sighed. "I jumped off the roof. I landed around here, somewhere."

Harumi wanted to put an arm around her ethereal friend but wasn't sure if the action would be appreciated. Instead, she changed the subject. "Do you remember dying?"

"Sort of," Morro answered. "I mean, one minute, I was me, and then I was in a world of pain, and then next minute, I was like this, but… still me."

Harumi smiled bitterly. "Thanks, Morro."

He tilted his head. "For what?"

She reached out and let her arm rest right where his shoulder was. "For being here with me."

Morro smiled and leaned into her touch. "Of course."

* * *

The fifth time Harumi met him, she felt safe.

Wind had kissed her face and water had enveloped her form; it was cold, cold, cold, cold, but at the same time, warm, safe, and comforting. She closed her eyes in the freezing river as her lungs filled with water and her bruised body sank to the riverbed.

She opened them in the library.

Harumi was resting across Morro's knees. He was holding a book of grief whilst cradling her with one arm. She looked up at him quietly.

"You're awake," He commented.

"Yes," She answered softly. "I am."

Harumi looked down at herself, slightly shocked but not totally appalled by her new body, with its green transparency and soft mistiness. She looked back up at Morro. "Why am I in the library?"

Morro sighed softly. "Because I was selfish. I followed you to the river and took your soul here, rather than let you go to the departed realm. I'm sorry,"

Harumi let out a breath she didn't know she was holding, then she took one of Morro's hands. "Don't be."

Morro smiled at her and squeezed her hand back. "Thank you."

Harumi smiled. "Your welcome."

They both got up from the floor and wandered towards the fiction section, looking for something to read, their hands connected all the while.

Harumi never felt safer.

Morro never felt happier.

Both never wanted to leave.

**A/N: Hmmm… I actually like the way this turned out. I've never written for this pairing before, but I kind of like it. **

**RealtreeGal: I'm working on yours. I wrote it, didn't like it, deleted it, and I'm currently rewriting it. Sorry for the wait.**


	4. Utah Zane

**Request: Western-themed Pixane based on the song 'Utah Carol'**

**Requested by: RealtreeGal**

**Warnings: Character death**

**AU: Western**

**Utah Zane:**

_North of Dallas, Texas, 2001_

Fire crackled around the three figures sitting under the massively open sky. All three were relaxing after a long day of work. Stars glittered far overhead and the moon hung low, lighting the world like a lantern. One of them leaned in to throw another stick on the fire, another stretched his legs, and the third leaned against the back tire of a four-wheeler.

The second one finished stretching his legs and looked up at his two companions. Modern cowboys. Who would've thought? Odd job, yes, but something that wasn't too complicated and could make enough money to get someone through college.

"What is it, Cole?" His friend Kai asked, raising an eyebrow.

Cole adverted Kai's gaze. "It's nothing, I'm just thinking."

Jay, the other friend, rolled his eyes. "You're making the dopey face again. What is it?"

Cole sighed softly. "I was just thinking about this song, it popped into my head while we were cooking dinner, and I can't get it out of my brain."

"What's it about?" Kai asked curiously, pulling some blankets off the back of one of their four-wheelers and tossing one to Jay.

"Some old cowboy ballad," Cole answered, catching the blanket that Kai tossed to him. "It's called, _Utah Zane_, I think."

"Sing it for us," Jay insisted, snuggling under the blanket Kai had thrown him.

"No, I couldn't-" Cole started, but Kai cut him off.

"Cole, you have a beautiful voice. Sing us the song already."

Cole sighed again, but, his voice low, began to sing the tale of _Utah Zane_. "_And now my friends you've asked me what makes me sad and still…_"

* * *

_North of what would become Dallas, Texas, 1858_

Zane loved being a cowboy.

He loved riding his horse, Shard, across the open plains, he loved the bright sun beating down, he loved the dusty air and the prairie. Zane loved it all.

The morning dawned bright and hot. Zane was helping to herd a massive group of cattle into corrals where they could be sold. His boss, Owner of Borg Ranch, Cyrus Borg, was paying him well, but part of the reason Zane worked for him was because of Borg's daughter, Pixal.

That morning, they had stolen a moment together in the stables.

Pixal was saddling up her horse for the day when Zane approached her. She turned and smiled at him, one of her hands still resting on her horse's shoulder.

"What gives me the honor of seeing you, Zane?" Pixal asked him. She walked past him and picked up her saddle, moving to put it on the horse.

"Wait," Zane interrupted, stepping forward and holding out the gift he had bought for her. "Your ride will be more comfortable if you put a blanket under your saddle."

Pixal set down her saddle and walked over to Zane, gently taking the gift, a white, blue, and gold saddle blanket, from him and looking it over. "Zane, this is beautiful."

Zane smiled and moved to help her place the saddle on the horse's back. "My father sent it. He likes hearing about you."

Zane's father, an older man named Dr. Julian, lived back in England, where Zane had come from. He often sent his father letters and loved to read the responses that he got. Dr. Julian had been ecstatic when he received several letters about Pixal, hoping that Zane had finally found love in the United States.

"Will you help me put it on?" Pixal asked, and Zane nodded. Together, they gently laid the blanket over the horse's shoulders, then they placed Pixal's saddle on her horse's back. Zane double-checked that the horse wasn't puffing its belly before tightening the cinch strap.

"Thank you, Zane," Pixal smiled at him again.

"You're welcome," Zane answered, and left to go saddle his own horse.

He was stopped by a larger, older man. Pixal's brother Cryptor.

"Jus' what in tarnation do ya think yer doin'?" Cryptor asked Zane in a quiet yet threatening voice, backing him into a corner of the stables.

"I… I was just giving Pixal a gift," Zane stuttered slightly. "As… a friend."

"You better stay jus' friends," Cryptor hissed. "Otherwise, it ends badly fer you."

Zane nodded, swallowed his anxieties and left to go to saddle his horse, Shard.

Later, out in the field, Zane was helping to herd a massive group of cattle towards the corrals. He rode alongside Cyrus' prize bull, Overlord, for a while before circling back around to the back of the herd, where Cryptor and Pixal's younger brother Mindroid was situated. The boy was only twelve but acted like he was twenty, which made Zane simultaneously want to laugh his head off and jump off a cliff.

There was a panicked lowing sound from the herd, and before Zane could even turn to look at the animals, the cattle were already stampeding westward.

"STAMPEDE!" Someone shouted, and all of a sudden, all eleven cowfolk on the field urged their horses into a gallop.

Zane urged Shard into a run until it seemed Shard had forgotten he was a land creature and was rather a being of the sky, flying over the musty prairie grass like a falcon, fighting to run hoof-in-hoof with the cattle.

Zane gripped the reigns so tightly his knuckles were white. He scanned the front of the herd and saw Overlord crashing through the field, bellowing in anger.

Then he spotted her.

Pixal.

Trapped at the front of the line, urging her horse to run just a bit faster, trying desperately to get out of the way of a stampeding herd of cattle. In an instant, Zane realized why the cattle were stampeding in the first place. The blanket. The one he had given her. It had somehow slipped out from under her saddle and was frightening the already angry cattle even more.

Shard flew forward, racing past several of the cattle at the front of the line until Zane was within earshot of Pixal.

She noticed the blanket, and, with the courage any American pioneer had, grabbed it and pulled it back under her saddle.

Then she slipped, and with a cry of terror, fell from her saddle.

Everything hit slow motion. Zane's mouth was dry. He couldn't breathe. Pixal was in danger, and here he was, terrified and useless.

Then everything snapped back into reality and Zane shouted to Shard, who, like a falcon, flew to Pixal's side.

Zane grabbed his love's arm and hauled her into the saddle.

"Thank you," Pixal whispered, clutching Zane.

The cinch strap on Zane's saddle broke.

Thinking too fast to do anything but respond, Zane shoved Pixal onto Shard and leapt off, grabbing the blanket from where it had fallen on the prairie.

"HEY!" He shouted to the cattle, who were still running in terror.

They saw him and time suddenly stopped.

Overlord hurtled towards Zane at speeds that terrified even him as he stood there, preparing for the worst. He could hear someone screaming for him, and someone shouting and the world was a hazy blur.

Then the cattle reached him, and, ears ringing, the world went black.

"ZANE!" Pixal cried as soon as the cattle had been gotten under control. She galloped Shard out to where Zane had stood and burst into frightened, grieving tears.

Zane's body had been tossed a couple hundred feet. He was covered in bruises that were black in some places and his once intelligent blue eyes were now blank and empty. Pixal scrambled off Shard and ran to Zane's side, pulling him onto her lap and hugging him close to her, longing to feel a heartbeat, or breathing, or to even have Zane smile at her in his Zane way and tell her everything was going to be alright.

Zane didn't move.

"What happened?" Cyrus asked, galloping up on his horse, riding a custom saddle that was built for him after his legs had been broken.

"I ain't never seen anythin' like it," Cryptor answered. "He jus' stood there and let the cattle take 'im. If it weren't for him, though, Pixal would be dead."

Pixal murmured Zane's name to his lifeless body. Despite the hot climate of the Texan plains, she felt weirdly cold, like she was freezing to death. She cradled Zane's body, even when the other farmhands tried to pry it from her she still hung on, clinging to Zane, clinging to him, clinging to the hope that he would come back.

Only a few days later, Zane was buried south of the west pastures, at his favorite spot where all the wild violets used to grow. They had died, as the heat of the summer had ended their lives as well as his.

Zane was wrapped in the blanket he had given Pixal, the one that had ended his life, but Pixal did not attend the funeral. Instead, she wandered through her father's farmhouse, grieving. She finally found Zane's boarding room and entered it, just sitting there quietly and being close to him. It felt like he was still there, that one moment he would enter his room and ask Pixal what she was doing there.

Pixal sighed and left Zane's room, choosing instead to walk down to the banks of the watering hole to think. She sat there for a long time, almost the entire day, when finally, while the sun was setting, she left the watering hole and went up to Zane's grave, still fresh under the evening sun.

She smiled bitterly, and silently remembered the way he smiled at her before she knelt before his grave. "I'll never forget you, Zane."

And she never did.

* * *

_North of Dallas, Texas, 2001_

"_And it was this white blanket that brought him to his end_," Cole finished, as Kai and Jay watched him, entranced.

"Wow," Kai finally said after a long moment. "That was… something."

I didn't like how it ended," Jay grumbled. "How come Utah Zane had to die? How come he couldn't have just lived or something?"

"I don't know," Cole answered. "That's just how the song goes. Anyway," He looked up at the starry sky. "We better head back."

Kai and Jay agreed, and, after extinguishing the fire, the three friends climbed on the four-wheelers and headed south, back to the Ranch House.

Suddenly, Cole skidded to a stop. "Guys! I think I hit something!"

Kai and Jay slowed to a stop and climbed off their four-wheelers, heading over to where Cole was looking over the ground. Kai paused next to Cole to observe what he had run over, but Jay wandered a little farther south.

"Looks like a dead coyote," Kai muttered, poking the carcass with a stick.

"GUYS!" Jay shouted from a couple of feet away. "YOU'LL NEVER GUESS WHAT I FOUND!"

Cole and Kai ran over to Jay, who was kneeled next to something on the ground.

"A… rock?" Cole asked. "I mean, um, cool, Jay, that's really… boring."

"No," Jay pointed to the rock, which had words engraved on it. "Check out these engravings!"

"_Utah Zane,_" Kai read aloud. "_1840-1858. Cowboys never quit, and cowboys will never be forgotten. May he rest in peace forever._"

"What," Cole said, shoving Jay aside. "Is that really what it says?"

"Read it for yourself," Kai answered, moving over.

"You're squashing me," Jay grumbled, but Kai and Cole ignored him.

"Huh," Cole exclaimed. "So the story of Utah Zane is true. Odd. I always thought it was just one of those campfire stories."

"Yeah, well," Kai looked down at the grave, then back up at the four-wheelers. "I have a feeling that if we don't head back soon we're going to end up like Utah Zane."

Jay's eyes widened. "Okay. I think I like Kai's plan."

The two of them went back to the vehicles.

Cole stared a moment longer at the grave of Zane and, reaching down, plucked a wild violet from the grass and placed it on Zane's grave.

He smiled for a moment, entranced by the romantic ideals of the American West. Of cowboys, cowgirls, wild dances, and dangerous stampedes.

Then he got up, turned around, and walked back to his four-wheeler before he and his friends drove off into the night.

**A/N: Wow. Okay, so this was supposed to be out yesterday, but then life happened. Anyone else excited for Season 12? (I know I am!) Also, I assumed that modern cowboys use four-wheelers, as that's what the only cowfolk I know use, but they might still use horses.**

**Also, though Pixal and Cryptor were portrayed as siblings here, it doesn't mean they always need to be. Just thought I'd put that out there.**


	5. Swapped

**Request: Jay is a nindroid, Cole lived in the junkyard, Kai was a dancer, Zane worked in the four weapons, Lloyd was the water ninja, and Nya became the green ninja**

**Requested by: Nuppa Nuppa**

**Warnings: N/A**

**AU: Swap AU**

**Switcharoo**

_Zane_

He remembered it like it was yesterday.

Master Wu had found him in the blacksmith's shop, as usual, trying to forge a new sword. The blacksmith's shop was Zane's home. It was the place where he had lived his entire life, following in the footsteps of his father, Dr. Julian, the world-renowned blacksmith.

That day had been different.

Something was… off… about it. It almost felt like the fabric of reality had been bent and twisted, then put back together, but put together… wrong.

All of Zane's memories did a weird thing where they felt like just a story and not real events that had most definitely happened.

Then there was the old man.

He walked up the steps to the blacksmith shop quietly, and, looking at the floor, spoke one word. "Kai."

Who in Ninjago was Kai?

"I'm afraid you've… come to the wrong place," Zane said, turning to look at the old man, who was staring at Zane with a shocked and slightly horrified expression. "No one named Kai lives here."

"Are… are you sure about that?" the old man had asked. "I could've sworn…" he trailed off.

"No, Mr…" Zane trailed off.

"Master," The older man corrected gently. "Master Wu."

"No, Master Wu," Zane confirmed. "No one named Kai lives here."

Master Wu sighed, then turned to leave. "Thank you for your help… Zane."

Zane almost dropped the sword he was working on and spun around. "Ho did you know my name!?"

But Master Wu was gone, vanished into thin air.

A chill ran down Zane's spine. That was weird. Probably nothing, though, Zane thought, going back to his work.

Yet he couldn't shake that weird vibe he had gotten from Wu. He'd have to look into it later.

* * *

_Kai_

Kai _hated _dancing.

Which was why he was not dancing, but rather climbing a mountain, trying to escape the Marty Oppenheimer School Of Performing Arts.

He scrambled up over another boulder to the top of the mountain, where an older man was sitting, perched up on the cliffs with a cup of tea.

"Um…" Kai looked at the old man.

"Cole," The old man began. "Why do you climb the mountain?"

"My name's not Cole?" Kai snapped. "And what are _you_ doing up here anyway?"

"I… uh," the old man looked up at Kai in horror. "Oh, no…."

"Is everything alright?" Kai asked.

"Do you have a classmate named Cole?" the old man asked Kai. "His father is Lou Brookstone, he's probably a little taller than you are, with dark hair?"

Kai shrugged. "You're a long way from finding anyone like that in these parts, old man."

The old man sighed, then got up and walked to the edge of the cliff. "Oh. I thought I'd find something special here."

Kai rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to answer, but the moment he did, the old man was gone.

_That was weird,_ Kai thought to himself, then he turned and headed back down the way he came.

* * *

_Cole_

Cole liked Master Wu right from the start. First of all, he was quiet, second, he was gentle, and third, with Wu around, the world didn't seem so… random and out-of-place. The world made some level of sense.

Cole had never really felt like he belonged in the junkyard. It was hot and boring, and there were no mountains or trees to climb, which made the hot and boring desert even more hot and boring.

When Master Wu arrived, however, things got a bit weird.

"Hello," Master Wu had said, approaching Cole. "I'm looking for someone named Jay. Jay Walker."

Cole glanced around. "I'm sorry. He doesn't live here."

Master Wu stared at Cole. "I could've sworn…" He trailed off. "What's your name?"

"I'm Cole," Cole answered. "And, I can help you try and find this… Jay, if you'd like."

Master Wu smiled in a sad way. "I'm sorry, Cole, but I don't think you can help. Thank you anyway."

He turned and began walking off into the desert. Cole grabbed a canteen of water and ran after him.

"Wait!" Cole caught up to Master Wu and handed him the water bottle. "Here. Take this with you."

Master Wu smiled. "Thank you, Cole."

He turned and disappeared into the desert. Cole stared at the direction he had been going for a long time, his eyes smarting, until he turned and went back to the Junkyard, finally feeling like somehow, sometime, Cole would have a purpose, and that purpose would involve Master Wu.

He just didn't know it yet.

* * *

_Jay_

Jay had an idea that he was unusual, but didn't know he was a robot.

Then Master Wu arrived.

Jay was playing in the snow outside his parent's birch tree home, carefully putting a head on his snowman, and then looking around for a couple of sticks he could use as arms. He ran off through the woods, wandering around with Mr. Cuddly Womp, his miniature mechanical donkey pet following him carefully.

Looking for branches, Jay ran into an old man.

"Sorry!" He cried, scrambling away from the man he had just run into. "I didn't mean to run into you!"

"No, no," the older man reassured Jay, standing back up. "It's alright. You didn't hurt me."

"Oh," Jay relaxed a bit. "Do you need to talk to my parents? They're inside-"

"Jay," the older man interrupted. "Something is very, very wrong with our world."

Jay glanced around anxiously. "There is?"

"It's not how it's supposed to be," The man confirmed. "In fact, you should've grown up in a junkyard. You shouldn't have been…" he trailed off with a sigh. "Your Element should've been Lightning, and yet you control Ice."

"I can control Ice?" Jay asked skeptically, staring at the snow as if it would suddenly turn into a bunch of aliens, then looked back at the older man.

"I can teach you," the man said softly. "Would you like that?"

"Yes," Jay answered. "But I want to tell my mom and dad first."

"Of course," the older man confirmed. "Let us walk."

Jay lead the man back to his home, but couldn't shake some of the words he had said. "_You shouldn't have been…" _Shouldn't have been what? Alive? Jay shuddered. He certainly hoped that wasn't what the man was going to say.

He shook it off as they approached his house.

* * *

_Lloyd_

"BRAD!" Lloyd screamed as his friend was snatched up but the wind and yanked off the cliffs. Before he could register what was happening, he leapt off the cliffs after Brad and tumbled into the freezing ocean.

Lloyd swam downwards as fast as he could, reaching for Brad's hand, trying to save his friend when suddenly he was at Brad's side, and the water felt like it was trying to help him rather than drag him farther underwater.

Then Brad's hand met Lloyd's and the two boys were thrown from the waves and onto the beach.

Brad gasped for air, laying next to Lloyd, before he sat up, coughing. "What happened?"

"I see you've discovered your element, Lloyd," a voice from behind them called.

Lloyd leapt to his feet and spun around, staring at the owner of the voice, an old man with a long white beard and bamboo staff, as well as a traditional rice farmer's hat.

"Who are you?" Lloyd asked. "And what's this about Elements."

The man sighed. "My name is Master Wu. And it was _supposed_ to be Nya…" He grumbled.

"Who's Nya?" Lloyd asked. "And how come I didn't drown."

"HEY!" Brad half-shouted. "I didn't drown either!"

"Lloyd, may I speak with you?" Master Wu asked. "Brad, stay here."

Brad grumbled something under his breath as he watched the two leave. The thing was, Lloyd never came back to the beach. Or to Darkley's, or, well, anywhere. The next time Brad saw Lloyd was on the school lounge television, watching him help defeat the great devourer with his water powers.

_That's weird_, Brad thought, but never came back to it.

* * *

_Nya_

Of all the things Nya had wanted to be, the saviour of the world/golden master was never on that list. And yet she had become that exact thing.

The day after the final battle, Nya came to breakfast with the rest of the Ninja. She sat down at the table, and Zane handed her a plate of waffles.

"You guys would not believe the weirdest dream I had," Lloyd said, biting into his scrambled eggs.

"Mm?" Kai mumbled, grabbing a cup of coffee. The Earth Ninja wasn't really a morning person.

"What was it about?" Jay asked, giggling at a Garfild***** comic in the newspaper. The Nindroid didn't need to eat, but he enjoyed hanging out with his family anyways.

"In my dream," Lloyd started. "I was the Green Ninja."

This piqued Nya's interest. "Oh?" She asked.

"Yeah, pretty crazy, huh?" Lloyd answered. "Anyway, everyone else was all mixed up too. Like, _Zane_ was the Nindroid of Ice instead of Jay, and Jay was the Master of Lightning, Cole was the Earth Ninja, Kai controlled Fire, and Nya had Water!"

Cole laughed. "That's weird, Lloyd."

"I know, right!"

Meanwhile, in the living room, Garmadon and Wu had heard the whole exchange.

"I'm going to tell them," Garmadon said.

Wu's eyes snapped and he stared at Garmadon in horror. "No! Brother, that could mess up our reality even more!"

Garmadon sighed, and Wu went to get some more coffee. "Somebody's got to tell them."

He never did.

**A/N: Hmmm…. Anyway, I hope you liked this. Also, I forgot to mention in the last chapter, the quote on Zane's grave; **_**Cowboys never quit, and Cowboys will never be forgotten,**_ **is actually one of Kai's line's from Zane's funeral back in season 3. **

***No, I did not spell 'Garfield' incorrectly, it's a TheOdd1sOut reference.**


	6. My Side Of The Island

**Request: Jaya with pirates**

**Requested by: canofworms228 (Guest)**

**Warnings: N/A**

**AU: Pirates**

**My Side Of The Island**

Nya was not thrilled when she realized she'd washed up on a deserted island.

What made her less thrilled was who she had washed up with.

Jay Walker. The second mate on the _Misfortune's Keep,_ and her sworn enemy. Every seafaring Ninjagoean knew that there were two rival pirate clans out there, each battling for dominance over the seas. Most people actually liked the pirate battles, seeing as they tended to try and murder each other and not civilians or military officials.

Nya Smith was the second mate of her own pirate clan, led by Captain Soto on the _Destiny's Bounty_. She and her clan had spent the past five years engaged in constant warfare with Captain Nadakhan and his crew, and she wasn't about to stop now.

Which is why it was a pain to be stuck with a member of a rival clan.

They were in the forest at the center of the island, where a freshwater spring bubbled up from underground. A large, flat rock slab split the spring in two, causing it to flow into streams on either side of the island.

Nya stared at Jay across the spring, narrowing her eyes in hatred. She hated him. Every little thing about him rubbed her the wrong way. The glint in his eyes, freckles across his cheeks, the way his hair fell partly into one of his eyes.

It was so darn annoying.

She sighed and crossed her arms. "Let's make a deal. You stay on that side of the island, and I'll stay on mine. Okay?"

"Sure," He answered with a shrug. "How about the rock is the dividing line?" He motioned to the stone that split the stream.

"Fine," Nya sighed, then turned around to get some leaves so she could set up a shelter. It would be a good idea to be close to a source of freshwater while she was stranded, even though Nya was almost positive that Soto and the Crew would be looking for her.

"Look what _I'm_ doing," Jay called in a sing-song voice, walking his fingers across the dividing stone.

"Stop that!" Nya snapped.

Jay retracted his fingers and frowned, muttering something under his breath, before he got up and left, wandering back into the woods. Nya felt a little bad but shoved the feeling aside. He was from Nadakhan's crew. He was the enemy. No feeling sympathy for the enemy was probably a good boundary to set.

Nya glanced towards the forest again, though, then she shoved her feelings away and went back to preparing her shelter for the night.

* * *

What was really annoying was that blueberry bushes grew across the dividing line that Nya had set up.

And more of them were on Jay's side.

This annoyed Nya, but she tried not to let it show, gathering as many of them as she could in one of the massive banana leaves that grew abundantly around the island. While stripping a stalk of berries, she looked up to see Jay had the same idea and was gathering berries on the other side of the dividing line.

Hatred bubbled in Nya, and she glared at Jay before crushing her berries to her chest and walking behind a tree, where he couldn't see her.

After gathering some more berries and double-checking that the coast was clear, Nya crept out from behind her tree and almost dropped her berries in surprise.

Across the clearing, Jay had left a neat little pile of berries sitting in a broken wicker basket. Nya approached it cautiously, seeing that it had been placed on the dividing line of their territories, and wondered if this was a trap.

Then again…

She looked over the berries and realized that there was a small note on the rocks next to the berries, written with berry juice. Nya read it quickly.

_I'm sorry I annoyed you. Peace offering?_

What. He was her greatest enemy. They had been fighting for years, and here he was, offering her berries like it was no big deal. She picked up a berry and sniffed it suspiciously. It didn't _smell_ poisoned.

Sighing, Nya kicked the basket over and let the berries tumble down the slope. It was too risky to try and eat them. Besides, she had her own berries, and they would be enough.

Later, Nya would be sorry that she hadn't accepted Jay's peace offering. Especially when her own berries weren't enough.

* * *

She awoke to the sound of shivering.

_That's odd._ Nya thought looking up from her makeshift bed of banana leaves and a chunk of torn sail that she had washed up with and was now using as a blanket. Nya glanced around to see Jay on the other side of the spring, curled into a ball, shaking with cold.

Nya rolled her eyes and sighed, before turning over and trying to shut out the sound of Jay's teeth chattering. A small part of her twinged in sadness, but she pushed it off.

_He's not Kai._ She reminded herself. _He's your ENEMY!_

A part of her still wanted to remember Kai. Wanted to remember growing up alone in the desert village of Ignacia. Memories pushed themselves into her thoughts and happily nestled inside her brain, which irritated her immensely.

She remembered the night that Kai died vividly like it had happened yesterday.

It was so cold in the back alleyways, and Kai was sick, though he'd never admit it, and they had curled up together for warmth in a pile of garbage since there was no other place to sleep. Kai had covered Nya's body with his own, and the last words she ever heard him speak aloud were; 'Love you, Nya,'. Then he had fallen asleep and never woken up.

Nya sighed and stood up, grabbing her makeshift blanket and approaching the spring. She stopped and stared at the stone she had decided was the dividing line, and then sighed, stepping across it, but wincing every time she put her foot down. It was unlike her to break her mental rules, but she did so anyway, gingerly approaching the young man.

He didn't look up as she approached him, and she considered just trying to throw the blanket over him from where she was standing, but that also seemed like a bad idea. Instead, she approached him and draped the blanket over his shoulders gently.

"Thanks, Cole," He muttered half-heartedly.

_Who's Cole?_ Nya wondered, but quickly fled to her side of the island, curling up on her bed of vegetation and going to sleep.

The shivering had stopped, and, although Nya was chilly, a small yet unavoidable part of her was screaming; _I did something good. YAAAAAAAAAYYYYY!_

Nya smiled, closed her eyes and went back to sleep.

* * *

"Hey," Jay said the next morning, coming to sit across the spring from Nya.

She looked up but averted his eyes. "Hey."

"I uh," Jay looked down at the 'blanket', which he had neatly folded, then reached out over the line. "I wanted to, um… thanks. For the blanket, I mean."

Nya took the blanket from him gently, ignoring the feeling that fluttered through her chest when their fingers brushed. "You're welcome, I guess."

"Uh… yeah," Jay cleared his throat and got up, walking into the woods on his side of the island. "I'll… see you tonight?"

Nya watched him for a moment. "Sure, I guess."

He walked into the woods and vanished.

Nya sighed, looking down at the blanket in her hands, before standing up. She might as well try and find something useful on her side of the island anyway.

* * *

A knife made from solid jade. Shoes with wheels on them. Chains made from a material Nya had never seen before. A golden gong with a snake inscription.

All these things and more littered the ground of a wide-open clearing that Nya examined. She observed the Jade Blade for a while, running her finger down the edge of the sharp knife, and wondering how the intricately carved knife could be useful in combat. It looked like a trophy.

_Maybe it is a trophy._ Nya's brain grumbled sarcastically.

She rolled her eyes and continued walking, observing the other random things that had been scattered about. It kind of looked like, a long time ago, there had been a battle here.

Then she slipped.

With a scream, Nya fell down, down, down, through a winding maze of tunnels that she assumed ran underneath the entire island.

Pulling herself up, Nya realized in horror that her leg was injured. She tried to put a little weight on it and cried out in agony, tears forming in her eyes.

_Stupid, stupid,_ she cursed herself, crawling on all fours through the tunnels. There was no way she'd get out of here like this. The only thing left to do was wait to die.

Nya laid down and took a deep breath, trying to calm her claustrophobia. She thought about death for a moment. Nya had always imagined that she'd die fighting Captain Nadakhan or nobly sacrificing herself for her crewmates. Never had she imagined that she'd die alone and scared in a hole in the ground.

Her thoughts wandered to Kai and her parents. She had known Kai all her life, as he had been her primary caregiver, but had never met her parents. Nya wished she could talk to them, wished she knew what they thought of her, wished she could tell them she loved them.

_I'll die eventually. _The thought was soothing. Soon she'd be in the Departed Realm, with her parents, and with Kai. She'd finally be safe.

Footsteps echoed down the corridor.

But… there was only one other person on the island.

_Great. _Nya grumbled internally. _Now he's come to finish me off._

She sighed in defeat and shut her eyes, letting herself relax against the cold floor of the tunnel.

"Hey," A voice asked gently. "I heard you scream. Are you alright?"

Nya opened a tentative eye, reluctant to show her vulnerability. "What did I say about staying on your own side of the island, Walker?"

"You didn't specify what to do when you fell down a rabbit hole and ended up in Wonderland, Alice," Jay retorted, his lips curling up in a smile. "Now, since you're laying on the floor, I assume you're hurt somewhere."

Nya sighed, giving up. "My leg. I think I landed on it funny."

Jay looked at it with a grimace. "Yeah, you did. Here, I'll help you up." He gently reached his hands down, sliding them under Nya's hips and shoulders and lifting her bridal style.

Nya thought briefly about squirming, but the pain in her leg was too much to bear, and instead, she just relaxed and let Jay carry her.

To her surprise, he appeared to be carrying her with almost no problems. She had expected him to complain about her weight or the way she was moving, but instead, he just gritted his teeth and kept walking.

It took the rest of the day, but they finally made it back to the spring, Jay carrying Nya some, and her walking some. When they did make it back, Jay had Nya sit down at his pile of leaves/makeshift bed, and immediately began bandaging and splinting her leg.

"Why are you helping me?" Nya finally managed to ask. "We're supposed to be enemies."

"I… I don't like seeing people in pain," Jay confessed, tearing a strip off the sail and using it to bandage Nya's leg. He averted her gaze. "It's a long story. Why'd you give me your… um… 'blanket?"

Nya could hear the quotation marks in his voice. "You were cold. It just seemed like the right thing to do. Who… who's Cole?"

Jay blushed slightly and looked away. "Just. Just an old friend of mine. He died years ago."

"I'm sorry," Nya said sympathetically. "I didn't mean to pry."

"No, you're alright," Jay answered. "It was a long time ago too. We were out on the deck during a storm, and we were just heading inside when I got nervous and he got washed overboard."

"That's… that's horrible," Nya exclaimed. "If… if it makes you feel any better, my… my brother died and I couldn't save him."

"He did?" Jay asked, looking up.

"It was just so cold," Nya answered. "He was sick too, and that night I fell asleep, and the next morning I woke up and he was just… gone."

Jay smiled bitterly and placed a hand on Nya's knee. "Thank you for telling me that. But, on the other hand, can we be friends? Like, not enemies? Just for a little while, I mean, not forever, obviously, since our crews are still coming to rescue us and all, and boy would _that_ be awkward to explain to-"

Nya cut him off by grabbing Jay's hand. "Jay, I'd love to."

* * *

They decided to be friends after that. Nya was injured, and Jay helped her find food. At night they would take turns keeping watch for any creatures of the night.

As a result, they grew closer.

Nya's injury finally healed, and the two of them were inseparable, exploring both sides of the island. They climbed to the top of the volcano in the center of the island and looked around for miles. They wandered through the jungle, crossing swamps on stones and catching frogs. For three months, together they laughed and cried and felt joy and happiness.

Morning was upon them the day it all fell apart.

Jay had woken first and wandered to the cliffs to look out over the sea. It was more out of habit than anything else, and he was expecting nothing when he saw a ship on the horizon. Not just any ship, though.

_The Misfortune's Keep._

Jay's stomach lurched as he imagined Nadakhan and his crew aboard the boat. Nadakhan was looking for Jay, the way a captain does. But this time, Jay was no longer happy to see the shape of the hull of the boat.

Instead, he feared for Nya's life.

She was a member of Soto's crew. If Nadakhan knew she was on this island, he might just kill her on sight. Or he would kidnap her for hostage and that would be much, much worse. Jay knew that from experience. Nadakhan had kidnapped him and Cole and forced them to join his crew or die. The very idea of Nya being in the same situation made Jay want to cover his head and scream for hours.

"Jay?" Nya asked, looking up from the sleeping area. "What are you looking at?" She yawned lazily, having no idea of the danger her life was in at this very moment.

Jay swallowed, then sighed. "Nya, it… it's the… the _Misfortune's Keep._ They've come to take me back."

Nya stared at Jay for a long moment. She opened her mouth, then shut again, at a loss for words, before standing up off the sleeping pallet and coming over to place a comforting hand on Jay's shoulder.

Jay laid his hand over hers, and for a moment, they leaned into one another, pressing their foreheads against each other in a display of affection.

"What are we going to do?" Nya asked Jay softly, stroking his shoulder affectionately.

Jay's shoulders slumped. "I… I have to go down there, Nya. I have to meet them on the beach so they don't come searching the island and find you."

"I… I wish you could stay," Nya said softly.

Jay cringed. "Not that word, please."

"Oh," Nya looked up with concern. "I'm sorry."

"It's alright," Jay reassured her. "And I'm really sorry, but, Nya…" He trailed off.

"Jay," Nya started. "Look, it's been a wonderful few months, but… it's just not meant to be. You are from Nadakhan's crew. I am from Sotos's. We couldn't be together anyway."

"I know," Jay sighed. "But I wish we could."

She turned to face him. "Maybe the pirate wars will end. Maybe we can be together someday. But… now is not somed-"

Jay cut her off by pressing his lips to hers. Nya stiffened in surprise, but then melted into him and kissed him back. Her lips slid down the side of his neck and she sucked at the soft skin there. Jay buried his face in Nya's black hair and hummed contently.

The finally pulled apart and looked at each other for a long time before Jay stepped away.

"I'm sorry," He said before he turned and ran down the cliffside and towards the beach, fleeing the island, fleeing Nya, fleeing the feeling of hopeless love that had arisen in his chest.

"Jay, wait!" Nya called, but Jay didn't slow down or stop, he just kept moving. He left her behind and never looked back.

* * *

Dogshank was glad to finally see Walker after all those months. It had really freaked out Nadakhan to be having his second mate missing for that long, especially with Nadakhan's temper. It really hadn't been a great three months for anyone.

She observed Walker suspiciously, and her breath caught in her throat when she examined his neck. Was that… a _hickey_!?

Then Walker reached up to scratch his neck, complaining loudly about the mosquitos on the island, and Dogshank relaxed a bit. That was kind of random.

Besides, whoever heard of there being random women who hung out on deserted islands anyway? What a ridiculous idea! (Dogshank actually had been hoping this was true. She had also been hoping that they didn't have a prejudice against other females.)

However, she did catch Walker sadly look back at the island one more time as they climbed onto the _Misfortune's Keep._ He smiled at it in a bittersweet way and murmured something under his breath.

"I'll never forget you, Nya."

Who in Ninjago was Nya?

Dogshank decided not to ask.

**A/N: Aaaaahhhh…. This took me forever! Anyway, first Jaya ship! Also, just remember that I am only one person who, sadly, must return to the jail that is school in a few days. Because of this, updates will likely be less frequent, but I do save all requests and try and get to them!**

**Also… I guess I just liked the idea of Dogshank being attracted to girls or something, but it… weirdly fits her character.**

**Note: Some authors have been having an issue with getting PMs to their inboxes. Please, if you have an account, check your on-site inbox to make sure you are still getting something I may have sent you.**


	7. Flames of Rancor

**Request: Kai joined Chen back in Season 4**

**Requested by: The Mayor Of Ninjago City**

**Warnings: Evil Characters, character death (no blood), Kailor**

**AU: Evil Kai, Dark Ninjago**

**A/N: Ohmygosh, I am **_**so **_**sorry! This should've been finished and out sooner, but after I started writing I realized that my first draft was a little off and had to be scrapped. Also, I know I said I was on hiatus, but this was finished, and I felt bad about not updating, so…. **

**Also, in this story, the Anacondrai Cult is referred to as both 'the cult' and 'The Risen Anacondrai'. Just a heads up.**

**Flames of Rancor**

**Kai**

"A scale from the Great Devourer," Chen said, motioning to the item, framed and hung on a wall. He and Kai were walking down the long hallways of his museum, observing the items hung there. "Captain Soto's peg leg, a cog from the Celestial Clock, Zane's pink gi, and this,"

_How long has this guy been stalking us?_ Kai wondered with a shudder. _Yikes._

Chen pulled a twilight purple sword out of a display case and swung it in a wide ark, nearly hitting Kai, who jumped back skittishly.

"An Anacondrai sword," Chen explained reverently. "They are the sharpest blades ever forged and can cut through almost anything. Simply put, they are the perfect weapon for a powerful warrior to battle with."

_Boooooring._ Kai thought to himself as Chen placed the sword back in its case.

"Why are you telling me this?" The Fire Master asked the older man. "You _do_ realize that if the odds weren't _painfully_ in your favor I'd strike you down in an instant."

"Hmm," Chen's eyes lit up. "Skylor was right, even without your power, you still burn with a fiery passion. Violent, but not untameable."

He clapped Kai on the shoulder, who visibly flinched.

"Unlike you and my child Skylor, who inherited her powers from her mother, _I_ was never born with abilities..."

Kai ignored him, lost in thought. _Skylor isn't evil. Maybe I can show her that her father is wrong and that she can still switch sides. But that would mean I'd have to..._

"...I would amount to nothing," Chen said, exasperated. "But I will prove them all wrong!" He stopped suddenly and motioned to a painting on the wall. It was of an Anacondrai warrior standing in the middle of dust and smoke. "I call it _Charge of the Dark Brigade_. It's gorgeous, isn't it? The reds, the purples, the _really_ dark purples."

Kai yawned, bored out of his mind.

"After I defeat your friend Lloyd and take his powers, nothing will stop me from casting the spell that will transform myself and followers into… Anacondrai!" Chen exclaimed.

_Oh, come on,_ Kai thought to himself. _MORE SNAKES?! Unless..._

"With your friends gone," Chen continued. "Nothing will stop me! However, I've seen inside your head." He clasped Kai's shoulder. "I know you're still jealous of Lloyd's status as the Green Ninja."

Kai looked away from Chen. _How could he have known? Did Skylor tell him? Can he tell? Am I that obvious?_

"It could have been you," Chen pointed out. "Haven't you ever wondered what it would be like to have that much _power_ coursing through your veins? Of course, you have. There is so much hidden potential in you, Kai. I can help you find it. You don't need to be a slave to the Green Ninja any longer, you could just… _become_ him."

Kai hesitated a moment. _Oh, why does Chen have to be so tempting?! _"I will _never_ turn on my friends!"

"Of course, of course," Chen answered with a nod. "But what if I told you _other_ things? The things that Garmadon and Wu never told you. Secrets about… your heritage."

Kai gasped and stepped away. "My parents? What secrets?"

Chen laughed. "So many questions, such easy answers. Oh, well. You never intended on fully joining me anyway."

Kai stepped in front of Chen, blocking his path. "I never said that. I only said I would never turn on my friends."

"Hmmm," Chen observed Kai with a look that said, _perhaps you can be worked with._ "We will have to see. For now, however, I need to focus on capturing your friend-"

Clouse cut him off, approaching from behind. "Master, night has fallen, but the Green Ninja has made no sign of wanting to attack. Shall we go on the offensive?"

Chen looked slyly between Kai and Clouse before waving off the magician. "Of course not, Clouse. There's only one way off the island, and that is through permission from me. If the Green Ninja chooses not to attack, then we bide our time and wait for him to come to us."

Clouse narrowed his eyes in irritation but nodded. "Of course, Master. I will double the guard. However…" He trailed off, staring at Kai.

"What is it, Clouse?" Chen snapped, irritated.

"What do you propose we do with the former fire master?" Clouse asked, not at all lowering his voice or trying to obscure his obvious hatred of Kai at all. "I will have a cell prepared in the dungeon if you wish."

Kai made a growling noise in his throat. _Two can play at this game, Clouse._

Chen clapped a hand on Kai's shoulder. "That won't be necessary, Clousey. In fact, there was something I'd like to teach him if you'll give us some time."

Clouse sighed heavily but glared at Kai with seething hatred. "As you wish, master."

He left the corridor, grumbling unhappily.

Chen smiled at Kai in a weird way, that made Kai feel like ants were crawling all over him. He bit back a shudder and tried to look firm and determined. Chen moved to stand closer to Kai and held out the Staff.

_Does he want me to take it?_ Kai stared confused before he looked up at Chen's face. "What sort of trick is this?"

Chen laughed. "Very smart, Fire Ninja. Good to always be sure of possible threats when offered something good by your enemy. Now-" He froze, suddenly, cutting himself off. "Wait…" Chen rolled his eyes. "DAUGHTER!" He bellowed suddenly.

Kai glanced around, confused. Yes, he was sure that Chen was loud, but the Cult Compound was also massive, spreading across almost 5 square kilometers of land, with some parts several stories high, not to mention the maze-like tunnels that lay sprawling beneath the compound. There was little way that Skylor could possibly hear her father from where they stood.

"Yes, father?" Skylor's cool, yet almost fearful voice answered from the shadows of a large plant as she stepped into the open, her body materializing from darkness.

_The Element of Shadow,_ Kai realized with a jolt. _Has she been watching us this whole time?_

She made brief eye contact with Kai, and he detected some other emotion hidden deep in those violet orbs. Fear, perhaps? Anxiety? Whatever it was, it struck and resonated with some deep part of Kai. The part that had raised Nya. The part that had protected Lloyd. Kai looked at Skylor and saw the same helplessness he had seen in both his younger siblings, biological or honorary. Kai then realized that he had been staring at Skylor a little too long and averted his eyes, blushing.

"How long have you been standing there?" Chen demanded in a tone that made Skylor flinch slightly. Chen either didn't see it, or he ignored it, but either way, a tiny, yet unavoidable, part of Kai's heart broke when he noticed.

"Not very long," Skylor answered cooly. "I was coming to report to you."

"What _is_ there to report?" Chen snapped. "I am in the middle of something, in case you couldn't tell."

Skylor took a breath."The Green Ninja has chosen not to attack tonight. Should we try to find-"

"NO!" Chen shouted in frustration. "WHY DOES EVERYBODY-" He cut himself off, then took a breath. "Skylor, put a message up so everyone knows there will be no hunting of the Green Ninja until I come out and say so!"

Skylor rolled her eyes. "Yes, father." She answered dryly, before shooting Kai a sympathetic look and turning to leave down the hallway.

"Don't roll your eyes at me, young lady!" Chen shouted after her, but Skylor didn't respond.

Kai stared for a long moment. _Is Skylor… afraid of Chen?_ It wasn't impossible, considering that Skylor had grown up on the island with Chen as a father. In fact, it made a lot of sense that Skylor would be afraid of Chen's crazy habits and insane personality.

His train of thought derailed suddenly when Chen thrust the Staff into his hands. Cool metal collided with Kai's gloves and-

_Oh wow,_ Kai thought, trying to get a grip on reality as his vision blurred suddenly. _Is this what it's like to be on drugs?_

Then his vision cleared suddenly and Kai saw that he was seeing everything with beautiful, amazing, _clarity_. Bright lights glittered along the edges of paintings, and Kai took a deep breath. He could easily discern colors, shapes, images and other similar aspects. It was overwhelming, but at the same time, incredible.

It felt like, after a lifetime of starvation, finally being able to eat as much as he wanted. It felt like a cool drink of water after a morning of training. Kai felt… _good_. He felt _powerful_. Who needed Lloyd? Who needed to become the Green Ninja, when Kai had all this power at his fingertips?

Chen grabbed the Staff back, and Kai let out an angry snarl but was forced to resent. Lloyd wasn't the most pressing enemy. Chen was. Kai wanted power. He had been given power, and Chen had stolen it away from him. Kai _wanted_ that power! It was _his_!

Chen chuckled. "Calm down, tiger. You'll get your share of this power soon enough. Or you won't, I suppose since you're still with the Green Ninja."

Kai grinned at Chen. "No. We have a deal. You show me the power of the Staff, and I will hunt down the pathetic Green Ninja and we will rule the continent!"

"Of course," Chen answered slyly. "Of course. Now, Kai, I suggest you find Skylor. She will be of great help to you."

"Shouldn't I go after-"

"NO!" Chen shouted, then took a breath. "No. Not now. When _I _say _so_!"

Kai turned to leave, but not before thinking to himself, _Soon it will be when _I _say so, old man._

* * *

**Kai**

Kai found Skylor in her room.

Not the one from the Tournament, to his surprise, but another one, which was far smaller and more tucked-away, hidden in a back hallway. He couldn't tell if it was because Chen was embarrassed by his daughter (that _was_ a possibility) or if Skylor just preferred her privacy. Either way, he found her sitting on the floor surrounded by watercolor paints and brushes, a cup of water sitting on the ground beside her. She looked up when Kai came in, eyes fearful before she realized it was him.

Kai's heart bounced like a rubber ball at her smile.

"Kai," Skylor smiled at him and moved to put away her paints. "My father sent you didn't he?"

He waved a gentle hand at Skylor. "No, you don't have to stop painting. Chen simply said that you could help me, and well, I… I guess I wanted to ask you something."

"Oh," Skylor looked up at him wide-eyed before dipping a brush in her water and going back to her painting. "Go ahead."

"Back in the worship room, why did you spare me?"

_That_ had apparently not been what Skylor was expecting, because she jolted slightly with surprise and looked up at Kai. She took a deep breath, added some purple to the edge of her painting, then began. "Because… I guess it was because I couldn't stand that look in your eyes. The scared one. The helpless one. It frightened me."

"It did?" Kai prompted gently. _She saw fear in me. Is that because she's spent so much of her life being afraid of her father? I mean, it's not far off._

"Yeah," Skylor answered. "I guess it did. And then I started thinking about how terrible my father's punishments can be, which freaked me out, and then I made an impulse decision. Not to mention… I… um…" She was blushing. "You're…" She trailed off.

"I'm incredibly handsome and dashing?" Kai asked, winking at her.

Skylor sighed but raised an eyebrow at hip playfully. "I was going to say 'adorkable' but I guess that works too."

"Thank you, for telling me, I guess," Kai answered with an awkward laugh. "Um. Your father said that you could tell me… something… I think?"

Skylor brightened up a bit. "Oh, that. Yeah. I'm supposed to tell you about the Risen Anacondrai."

"Is that what you call yourselves?" Kai asked.

Skylor shrugged. "It's a legal name. Not that anything my father does is legal, but technically he's protected by the First Amendment." She took a breath.

"You've never thought of going against him?" Kai asked. "Taking the Staff? Running the Cult yourself?"

She looked up, aghast. "I could never do that."

"Why not?" He pressed, curious as to how an Elemental Master could be so scared of a powerless clown like Chen.

Skylor's shoulders slumped. "Because…" she trailed off and averted his gaze.

"Because?" He prompted.

"Chen has the Staff," She answered sternly. "There's nothing I can do about it."

"But what if I can?" Kai butted in. "Chen trusted me to handle the Staff before, and If I could get close enough to him to-"

"Chen made you handle the Staff?" Skylor interrupted, nearly spilling the paint-water. "Kai, you have no idea how dangerous that was! That Staff has killed people. It messes with your head!"

Kai raised an eyebrow. "I know. But, Skylor, have you ever held it? You wouldn't believe the power it can hold… It's incredible!"

Skylor sighed and averted her gaze.

Kai looked at her face, trying to catch her eyes. "Was it something I said?"

"Nothing," Skylor muttered, dipping her brush in red and adding a little to the middle of her painting. "I… I just don't really think my father's Staff is… safe to use."

"Why?" Kai couldn't help but be nosy. It was practically in his nature.

"Because of… this." She delicately removed her right glove, then moving her left hand to her right sleeve, she pulled it up to reveal purple-black bruising covering her arm and probably spread to her back and chest.

To put it simply, Kai was horrified.

He had never imagined that Chen's abuse would spread to physically beating his daughter. The sight of Skylor's bruises made Kai simultaneously want to throw up, grab Skylor in a protective hug, and run down the hall so he could put a sword through Chen's fat neck. His eyes welled with tears, a lump was forming in his throat, and he was trembling with rage.

Skylor blinked a few times, then pulled down her sleeve to hide the wounds. "It… it's not important." She shook her head and looked away. "Forget I even showed you."

"Who. Did. That. To. You?" Kai growled, his voice low. "I am going to set them on fire, and then resurrect them so I can set them on fire again!"

Skylor glanced up at Kai, slightly confused. "No, you're not. Setting my father on fire will only make the situation worse."

"The situation?" Kai asked.

Skylor sighed. "You didn't think I'd leave you alone with him, did you? Because my father is nothing if not a creep."

"A creep?" Kai asked.

"It's a… long story," Skylor answered. "Do you want to stay here tonight?"

Kai brightened up a bit. "You'd let me do that?"

Skylor smiled at him, blushing slightly. "Of course. I mean, unless you want to go back to your room from the Tournament because I could probably talk my father into letting you do that. Otherwise, I think Clouse has him sold on the whole 'get you a cell in the dungeon' idea."

"No, that's okay," Kai smiled at her. "I'd rather stay here." _With you. In safety. Because I'm scared that Chen will hurt you if I'm not protecting you._

"I'll go let him know," Skylor said, jumping up off the ground gracefully. She opened the door and left the room.

Kai smiled after her, then glancing down at her painting, the smile fell from his face. Painted in stunning reality, was Chen's palace.

It was hideously beautiful.

Skylor had added a whole mound of things Kai had never imagined. Tiny, watching eyes were scattered all over the painting. Skylor was secretly showing how much she hated the Cult and her father's surveillance.

The door opened suddenly, and Kai looked away from the painting, pretending he hadn't seen anything.

"My father said yes," Skylor said, walking into the room. She had something tucked under one of her arms, but Kai couldn't see what it was.

"Cool," Kai answered with a smile. He and Skylor prepared an extra mattress, and though Skylor was gracious enough to offer her own bed to Kai, he insisted on taking the mattress.

As he drifted off to sleep, Kai watched Skylor's chest rise and fall with the steady rhythm of her breathing. _Don't worry._ He swore silently. _I'll keep Chen away from you. I have power now. You'll be okay._

Skylor suddenly smiled in her sleep and let out a contented sigh, which, although Kai would've liked to take credit for that, was probably not his doing.

Smiling, he drifted off.

* * *

**Kai**

Kai awoke to Skylor shaking him gently.

"Mmm?" He asked, opening an eye reluctantly.

"Kai, wake up," Skylor whispered nervously, shaking him a bit harder. "My father wants to speak with you before your ceremony!"

"My what?" Kai grumbled, sitting up. "What time is it?"

"It's… four in the morning," Skylor answered as if that was completely normal. "That's when we normally get up."

"It is?" Kai grumbled. He rolled over. "Five more minutes."

Skylor shook him again. "Please, Kai, my father wants to see you soon."

Kai detected an underlying hint of fear in Skylor's voice. He rolled over. "Okay, okay, I'm up, I'm up."

Skylor handed him the package she had brought in earlier. "Get changed. You have five minutes." She pointed to a door in her room. "Bathroom's in there."

Kai left her and went to the bathroom, unwrapping the package. A black shirt sat at the very top, and Kai pulled it off to reveal the rest of the clothing. A purple and gold jacket lay underneath, with a maroon and red shirt that went underneath that. A pair of dark maroon trousers and black boots completed the outfit, but a pair of dark wrist cuffs, a gold belt, and a clip-on teal feather earring accented the clothing.

Not one to waste time on actually putting on clothing, Kai quickly did Spinjitzu, his familiar red tornado shielding him from view as clothing flew to his body. When he finally stopped, Kai ran a hand through his hair and stepped outside.

Chen was waiting for him, giving Skylor a disapproving look. Fiery hatred bubbled inside of Kai, and he fought to keep his rage under control so Chen could speak with him.

"Yes, Chen?" He asked coldly. Somehow, his voice didn't have the same cool confidence that Skylor's did when she did the same thing.

Chen pursed his lips. "You will address me as 'Master' from now on. And I wish to speak with you, so you know the things which my _daughter_ has neglected to share with you."

He left the room in a stormy huff, and Kai knew better than to delay. With quick strides, he caught up to the Cult leader.

"Skylor has neglected to inform you of your ceremony, even as it will take place in a short time," Chen commented. "You will be presented to Clouse's serpent. Should the serpent accept you, you will be immediately accepted into the elite ranks of the Risen Anacondrai."

"What if it doesn't accept me?" Kai asked, trying to keep the fear out of his voice even though a cold chill crept down his spine.

Chen chuckled. "Well, then I suppose we'd have to find a new Fire Master." He paused, and then continued walking, turning down into the maze-like tunnels of the compound. Kai stuck close, in fear of getting lost.

They paused outside a closed door, and Chen reached over to straighten Kai's shirt. "I always wanted a son, you know. It was disappointing that Skylor was a girl."

Kai wanted to pull away but couldn't bring himself to. Was Chen really just a lonely old man who lived on an island all by himself? Then again, he did keep slaves and abused his daughter, so Kai really didn't know what to believe anymore.

"I had this outfit made before Skylor was even born. Such a shame she was a girl," Chen sighed. "Now, you will behave in front of the Risen Anacondrai or the world will have one less Elemental master in it."

Kai nodded. "Yes..." He took an annoyed breath. "...Master."

"Good," Chen answered, then laid a hand on the door. "Are you ready to meet the rest of the members?"

_No. _"Yes, master," Kai answered, squaring his shoulders.

Chen opened the doors and they stepped into the Anacondrai Temple. Inside, the Cultists were gathered, waiting. There were over a thousand of them, all crowding for seats near the central dais. Kai walked out, trying to look confident, and spied Skylor standing next to Clouse in the audience.

A hush fell over those assembled as the serpent slithered out from its place in the wall. Chen grinned, Skylor's brow furrowed with worry, and Clouse looked utterly done with the whole ordeal. The serpent slithered up to Kai and stared him down for a long, long time before it hissed softly and slithered back to the wall.

Kai let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding as the room erupted into cheers and shouts.

Shrill whistles cut through the generic whoops and chants of _Kai, Kai, Kai!_

_They're cheering for me! _Kai thought with a rush of excitement. _For ME!_

Chen approached Kai, grinning wickedly, and before Kai even knew what he was doing, his primal, power-desiring instincts took over and he seized the Staff.

"What are you doing!" Chen shouted in fury as Kai raised the Staff.

"Fulfilling my destiny as Green Ninja and protector of Ninjago," Kai smirked at the cult leader. "But getting rid of you!"

The Cultists began a crazed chant, curious as to how Chen would respond to such an inane challenge. Chen leapt to his feet. "CLOUSE!"

Clouse leapt forward to help, but Skylor tackled him from behind, using her element and her wits to keep him pinned to the ground.

Kai raised the Staff, grinning like a madman. Adrenaline was pumping through his veins, his face was flushed, yet he felt, so, so, _good_ in a bad way. Like he was powerful. Like he was respected.

The chant of the Cultists grew louder and Kai's grin stretched wider as the Staff powered up with his element, fire. Chen scrambled away from Kai but was not fast enough as the former fire master released the energy that was contained in the staff.

"Goodbye, Chen," Kai whispered as flames burst from the Staff and engulfed the cultist.

A scream echoed through the smokey air.

* * *

**Lloyd**

Lloyd stepped through the forest with his father, growling in irritation as he got stuck in some of the thorny undergrowth of the jungle.

A scream echoed through the dewy morning. Lloyd froze.

"That sounded like Chen," Garmadon commented.

Nya looked to where smoke was rising in the distance, the palace was going up in hungry flames. Her brother's flames.

"Lloyd," She said seriously. "We need to get you out of here."

**A/N: Okay, so this wasn't originally supposed to be this long or take this long, but I liked the idea and got carried away. The first draft, if anyone is interested, went a little like this: Lloyd and Nya two/three years **_**after**_ **Kai turned evil, but it ended up being too long and a little wordy… something I'd rather save for a full-blown multi-chapter story rather than a oneshot. If anyone would like to read it… I'd be happy to write a bit more and publish it as it is if anyone is interested. I also have an idea for a sequel, so if anyone really liked this, then…**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it and I will see you next time!**

* * *

**A quick note on my story priorities:**

**I got a PM asking about what I look for in requests and why I write in the order that I do. To keep it simple, I try to go in order of submission for the most part. Friends/family (aka people I know in the real world) have to wait longer because my priorities are set on internet acquaintances. Also, requesters with accounts usually get their stories written first. This does not mean I am neglecting you, guest reviewers. It is simply the way I do things. Sequels and two-parters are usually put off until I have a quiet moment to work on them.**

**Just trying to clear up some confusion. Thanks!**

**-CheezPretzel**


	8. Mirror, Mirror

**Request: Movieverse ninja meet showverse ninja**

**Requested by: cha0ticm0nster**

**Warnings: N/A**

**AU: Magical mirror beneath the monastery, interdimensional rifts, the works**

**Mirror, Mirror**

Incidentally, it was Jay who discovered the mirror first.

The basement was dark, cold and full of far too many spiders, but it was also where Jay discovered the coolest mirror in the history of ever.

It showed him his reflection, but… different. His hair was darker, his freckles closer together and since when did he own that orange scarf?

Grinning, Jay waved at his mirror-self in a childish way.

To his surprise, his mirror-self didn't wave. Instead, mirror-Jay stepped back, horror across his face.

Jay grinned with excitement, not even concerned that he had found a possibly cursed object. "Hey!"

Reflection-Jay glanced around nervously before responding. "Hi?"

"I'm Jay," Jay introduced himself. Who're you?"

"My name is… also Jay," The other boy nervously answered. "Who are you? You look like me… but I don't think I've ever grinned like that before."

"Oh," Jay stared, then approached the mirror.

Other-Jay scrambled backward fearfully.

"Calm down, buddy," Jay said in the voice he sometimes used near wounded civilians. "I'm just trying to figure out this mirror!"

He laid his hand on the silver rim. The metal was cool to the touch, and glittered dully, but felt… odd. It prickled under his fingers like spines but relaxed as he rubbed it with his thumb.

"You think this is a portal to another realm?" Jay asked his reflection, grinning.

"I… I think maybe it's a link between dimensions," Reflection-Jay answered.

"JAY!" Two separate versions of Nya called, each from their own respective dimensions. Both Jays spun around, momentarily turning their backs on each other.

"Here," Jay called to his reflection. "Same time, same place!"

"Oh, um, okay, I-" His reflection didn't get to finish as Jay left, sprinting up the stairs and out of sight.

* * *

Over the next few days, both Jays got to know each other a little better. Reflection-Jay discovered that his counterpart was confident and funny, whilst he was quiet and shy.

Normal Jay discovered that in Reflection-Jay's world, he had a crush on Nya. Weird, considering they were engaged in his world, but he could work with it.

"I… I'm just worried I'll say something dumb," Mirror-Jay confessed. "And she'll hate me."

"Nya won't hate you," Jay confirmed. "She probably already thinks you're cute!"

"You… think so?" His counterpart's voice was hopeful but nervous.

"Of course!" Jay confirmed, nodding vigorously. "I mean, you could get her flowers or chocolate. Girls like those things."

"I don't know if… Nya… likes those things though," Mirror-Jay answered softly. "What if she thinks I'm being dumb?"

"Well…" Jay trailed off, thinking of what _his_ Nya would like. She didn't really care about flowers when he thought about it, and chocolate wasn't her thing. Hmmm… frustrating, but not impossible. Nya was the master of water, and she was strong-willed but with a secret soft side. Wait…. "Maybe you could get her a new katana!"

"I… don't know where to get a katana," Mirror-Jay murmured miserably. "The only thing I'm good at is inventing."

"Inventing…." Jay muttered. "Wait… If I'm _you_, and _you're_ me, then…. THAT'S IT!"

"What's it?" Mirror-Jay asked, scrambling to his feet.

"Invent something for her," Jay answered, excitement shining through his voice. "Like some mechanical roses or something useful. Nya likes useful things."

"I… I think I have an idea," Mirror-Jay suggested.

"Well, let's hear it!" Jay grinned at his counterpart.

Mirror-Jay smiled for the first time and began to explain his idea.

* * *

One week later, and the plan was ready for action.

Mirror Jay had dressed up in a blue jacket and sky-colored tee, something that looked cute on him but wasn't too fancy or casual.

"JAY!" Mirror-Nya called, and Mirror-Jay swallowed nervously.

"You'll do great!" Jay nodded to his counterpart.

From his view of the mirror, Jay watched as Mirror-Nya walked down into the room. "Jay? Are you down here?"

"Um…" Mirror-Jay glanced around nervously. "Yeah."

"Didn't you say you wanted to show me something?" She asked him.

"Um, of course," Mirror-Jay murmured nervously before he held out what was resting calmly in his hands.

"An… egg?" Mirror-Nya asked after a long silence.

Mirror-Jay's shoulders slumped sadly as Mirror-Nya took the small bronze egg from his hand. She stroked it gently.

The egg splintered into a million little pieces.

Mirror-Nya stared in horror. "Oh, Jay… I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"

She was cut off as the splintering metal fell away to show a tiny, mechanical creature curled in Mirror-Nya's palm. She stared at it as it opened its eyes and blinked at her, each movement accompanied by a soft whirring.

The creature let out a mechanical trill, then nudged one on Mirror-Nya's fingers.

"It's… it's… a…" She trailed off, petting the tiny robot with one finger.

"Phoenix," Mirror-Jay answered. "I saw it on your suit, and I remember you telling Lloyd it was your favorite animal."

"I did tell him that, didn't I," Mirror-Nya answered absentmindedly. "Jay, this is incredible, but I didn't know you knew how to make robots."

Mirror-Jays eyes panicked, and he glanced at Jay for help. He shrugged unhelpfully.

"I, uh, I had help…" he mumbled. The mechanical Phoenix narrowed its eyes at him and let out a growling trill.

Mirror-Nya giggled at her mechanical pet, and for the first time, Mirror-Jay smiled genuinely and confidently, shooting Jay a thumbs-up when Mirror-Nya wasn't looking.

Then everything fell apart.

"Jay," a voice from the monastery stairs called. Jay froze. That sounded like Cole. Oh no.

"Jay!" Cole called again from the stairs. "Are you in the basement?"

"Yeah, I think he's in the basement," another voice, probably Nya, added. "He's been spending a ton of time down there for some reason."

"Okay, then," Cole again. "Let's go find him."

Jay froze as the cringingly familiar thump-thump-thump of his friend's footsteps reached his ears. He shot a panicked look at Mirror-Jay, who wasn't paying attention and was no help.

"Jay?" Nya walked over to him, Cole on her heels. "What are you doing down here by yourself?"

"SHHHH!" Jay shushed her, but it was too late.

"Woah," Cole exclaimed at the mirror. "Cool!"

"Guys…" Jay whined anxiously, but Nya and Cole ignored him, mesmerised.

Mirror-Nya looked through the glass at Nya, and the two stared each other down for a moment. "Huh," Nya commented. "Are you guys from another realm or…"

"No!" Jay interrupted. "They're from a whole 'nother dimension!"

"Another dimension?" Cole asked. "Hah! Get outta here!"

Mirror-Nya raised an eyebrow at Nya.

"Yes," Nya answered with a sigh. "Do they act like this in your world too?"

She shrugged. "Sometimes. I mean, I guess Kai acts more like that then Cole, but…"

"Wait," Cole interrupted her. "You mean we all have counterparts in the other dimension?"

Mirror-Nya shrugged. "I guess, yeah."

All five of them stared at each other for a moment, before Lloyd called down from upstairs. "COLE, NYA, JAY! WHERE'D YOU GUYS GO? IT'S DINNER TIME!"

"Same time?" Jay asked his counterpart, who nodded. Jay, Nya and Cole ran out of the room and up the stairs.

"An interdimensional mirror?!" Cole exclaimed. "Why didn't you tell us earlier? That thing's awesome!"

"An interdimensional mirror?" Wu asked, stepping out of his room to intercept Cole. "In the basement?"

"Uh, yeah," Cole answered, though Wu's face drained of color. "We can show you if you want."

"No, that's alright, Cole," Wu answered, turning to head back into his room. "Start dinner without me, I have some business to take care of."

"Business?" Nya asked.

Jay shrugged.

The next day, however, the mirror was gone from the basement. Jay later found some tiny shards of glass in the woods near the monastery, and it was never a secret of what had happened to the portal. Some of the pieces had even landed in a mountain stream, and Jay took his time picking them out so the wild animals wouldn't eat them and cut themselves.

The thing is….

He missed one.

* * *

**A/N: Well, I'm glad that's done. I might have to write a sequel about Lloyd, Kai, and Zane meeting the movie counterparts, though.**

**Next up, I'll start on KittyLucy's Request for Greenflame and go in order of submission from there.**

**Oh, and a quick note… TheANIMEArtist02(Guest) I am happy to do Glacier, but could you please elaborate on your AU request? I haven't been able to find much information on it.**


	9. Burning Copper, Not Jade

**Request: Royal Lloyd Greenflame AU**

**Requested by: KittyLucy774**

**Warnings: Plot to murder.**

**Pairings: Greenflame, implied Jadestorm**

**AU: Royalty**

**A/N: To everyone who is immediately going to start asking about the title; quick chemistry lesson. Harumi is the Jade Princess, remember, but when you burn the element **_**Copper**_ **you get a green flame. A green flame. A Greenflame. AHAHHAHAHA. (Sorry, I'm a science nerd.) Also, line breaks are marked with a **_**CuO**_**, the formula for Copper Oxide, a compound that is the result of burning Copper in the presence of oxygen gas.**

**Anyway, enough of this boring science stuff, on to the story!**

**Burning Copper, Not Jade**

_I don't want to get married to the Jade Princess of Ninjago._ Prince Lloyd Montgomery Garmadon of the Dark Island thought grumpily. _I don't even _like _girls!_

He sighed, but shifted from foot to foot, watching the horizon. It was early in the morning, dawn barely breaking over the crystal waves of the Endless Sea that separated the Dark Island from its neighboring country, Ninjago.

Imperial Prince Lloyd Garmadon, the only son of his father; Emperor Garmadon, was going to be married to Princess Harumi Jadebright of the Ninjago royal family. The truth was, however, that Lloyd didn't want to marry Harumi or have babies or run the country in his father's footsteps, especially because there was a mysterious Resistance in the country that occasionally caused chaos and sometimes attacked things.

Lloyd glanced around as a ship appeared on the horizon, gliding over the water like a bird in flight. The Ninjago Navy was a feared force, but this was not the ship carrying the princess, but rather one of the eight guard ships sent to flank her vessel.

Sucking in a breath, Lloyd looked around at the assembled people on the royal docks. Behind him, his father was watching the air with a bored but alert expression, and Lloyd's mother Misako stood next to him, smiling contently.

She had been married to Garmadon from Cloud Dome, the kingdom to their south, and was looking forward to her son getting married.

Beside them stood Prince Wu, Garmadon's brother; and his son Prince Morro. Wu looked expectant, whilst Morro looked as though he would rather be anywhere but the docks right this instant.

Anxiety suddenly building in him, Lloyd glanced to his right, looking around for the one person who's very presence calmed his nerves.

Kai.  
The young guard was only a few years older than Lloyd, but with his quick reflexes and powerful talents, Kai had quickly risen to his position; Head of Prince Lloyd's guard.

He sometimes worked as a personal bodyguard, and wouldn't hesitate to follow Lloyd into a dangerous situation, even if he would get hurt. In fact, the first time the Resistance had attacked the palace, it had been Kai who saved Lloyd from all the chaos and destruction.

Lloyd watched the ship on the horizon for a moment, then, deciding he had time, slipped into his memories…

**CuO**

Lloyd was sitting at his desk, bored out of his mind. His tutor, Mr. Tudabone, who was, incidentally, his best friend's dad, was teaching something about fractions (boooring). Kai was in the classroom, next to his mother Maya, a member of Empress Misako's royal guard, but she had been assigned to watch Lloyd with Kai as her apprentice.

"Lloyd!" Mr. Tudabone snapped. "Pay attention. Even an Imperial Prince needs to know how to subtract fractions." He pointed to the slate he was holding, "see, you carry the one-"

He never finished.

A brick flew in, shattering the window and crashing to the floor. Maya leapt to her feet, Kai only seconds behind her. The female guard ran to Mr. Tudabone's side, double-checking that he was alright as her son sprinted to Lloyd.

"Are you alright, your majesty?" He asked Lloyd, kneeling beside him.

Both shouting and the sound of an explosion came from out the broken window.

"We need to get to the emergency shelters," Maya instructed as another explosion shook the palace. She and Kai made eye contact and then Kai was helping Lloyd off the floor of the room.

All four of them sprinted down the hallways, sliding across ornate carpets and past expensive mirrors. Soon, Maya pushed aside a painted picture of Lloyd's parents, and all four of them made their way into the interconnected maze of the emergency shelters. Lloyd clung to Kai as they found their way to an underground bunker.

Finally stopping to rest, Kai slumped against a wall, even with Lloyd clinging to him. Maya sat down next to her son and began treating a cut on Mr. Tudabone's neck.

"You can let go of my arm, you know," Kai joked to Lloyd, who immediately let go and scrambled backwards.

"Oh, sorry," Lloyd sighed.

Kai smiled soothingly. "It's alright. We've had to deal with refugees before."

"We?" Lloyd asked him.

"Mom and I," He corrected, nodding to his mother. "You wouldn't be the first."

Lloyd relaxed a bit and leaned against Kai. He knew they would be in the bunker for several hours, but for some reason, Lloyd wasn't scared. He wasn't nervous. He wasn't worried about his parents or friends; because Kai was there. Kai was holding him. Kai was protecting him. As long as Kai was with him, Lloyd felt unstoppable…

**CuO**

"Prince Lloyd."

Speaking of Kai, he quietly called to get Lloyd's attention. Lloyd glanced up quickly to see a gangplank being lowered.

"Do I look alright?" He hissed to Kai.

"You look great," Kai whispered back. "Just act natural."

"Easy for you to say," Lloyd grumbled, but took a deep breath and composed himself as an older man with a scarred face came to stand in front of them.

"I am General Hutchens," He introduced himself. "Head of the Jade Princess' guard." Hutchins motioned to the gangplank. "May I present, Jade Princess of Ninjago, Princess Haurmi Jadebright!"

A delicate-looking girl stepped out onto the gangplank, dressed in a fancy green kimono that was tucked around her thin, fragile form. Her bleached blonde hair was pulled up in a bun on the top of her head. She smiled blankly at Lloyd, who nodded to her, stepping forward to kneel before her.

He took one of her soft, pale, hands and leaning down to kiss it, as he had been taught.

"Pleased to make your acquaintance, your majesty," Lloyd murmured politely, standing before her. She was a head shorter than him, but still had an odd, judgemental look on her face as she watched him.

"May I return the sentiments," Harumi said politely but flatly.

"Let me introduce you to my family," Lloyd motioned towards his parents and uncle. "My father; Emperor Garmadon, and Mother, Empress Misako."

Harumi nodded to both of them. "It is wonderful to finally meet you," She curtsied politely, shook hands with Garmadon, then with Misako.

Lloyd nodded to Wu. "My Uncle, Prince Wu," Harumi shook his hand as well. Lloyd motioned to Morro. "And my cousin, Prince Morro."

For the first time since she'd stepped off the boat, Harumi cracked a smile as Morro politely kissed her hand the way Lloyd had.

Lloyd caught Kai giving Harumi and Morro an eye roll, and stifled a chuckle.

Harumi nodded to Lloyd's family. "I am pleased to be a future member of the Dark Island royalty." The smile on her face disappeared, fading back to her neutral mask.

Lloyd took an anxious breath but saw the carriage pulling up, the one that Princess Harumi and his parents would ride in back to the palace.

"Let me escort you, your majesty," Lloyd offered, nodding towards the carriage.

"That would be much appreciated, thank you," Harumi answered flatly, sliding her hand into the crook of Lloyd's arm as he lead her to the open carriage door. She climbed inside gingerly as if she were afraid of breaking herself.

Lloyd relaxed as his parents climbed in after her, and breathed a sigh of relief. Kai approached him, leading two horses, one of which was Lloyd's golden stallion, and the other was Kai's roan gelding.

The prince mounted his horse carefully and watched as Kai did the same, trying not to stare at the way Kai's muscles rippled as the guard sat proudly in the saddle.

Clucking to his horse, Lloyd urged the stallion forward, and soon he was trotting through the streets of Celestial City, Kai beside him, sword drawn and glaring suspiciously around the city as if he was just _daring_ the rebels to try and attack Lloyd.

Lloyd relaxed even more, knowing that as long as Kai was at his side, no harm would come to him.

"UGH!" Morro shouted from behind Lloyd, mounted on his own horse, a thin black mare. "Can we hurry up!?"

Lloyd sighed, but before he could retort, Wu jumped in.

"Patience is a virtue, Morro," He scolded his son, urging his own palomino pinto forward. "And we should not gallop through the city, the streets are too narrow."

Morro let out a frustrated sigh, but listened to his dad, albeit reluctantly.

The three royals, along with their entourage, trotted through the city, finally finding the palace stables. In the wide courtyards, Lloyd swung down from his horse and began to lead it to its stall.

"I got it," Kai interrupted, taking the reins from Lloyd. "You go get to know the princess."

Lloyd breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks."

He turned at left for the palace, entering and walking down the massive, ornate hallways, decorated with glittering stained glass and shining with silver and gold. Lloyd took another turn, finding the Queen's suite where Harumi would be talking with his mother.

A young maid, with soft bleached hair so light it could've been silver, slipped past him.

"Wait," Lloyd caught her attention.

She turned at curtsied politely. "Your majesty,"

"Will you tell my mother I am here?" He asked her. Being male, Lloyd wasn't allowed in the Queen's suite without a personal invitation from the queen herself. This applied to all males in the palace, as even the queen's guards were female, one of which was Maya, Kai's mother. Kai's sister Nya was in training to be a guard of the Queen, and many speculated she would go on to serve the princess.

"Of course, your majesty," the maid nodded and turned to leave.

"What's your name?" Lloyd asked her before she could get away. He had tried to make a habit of learning servants' names, as it was easier to call them 'hey May' or 'Johnathen' rather than 'hey you' or 'skinny, get over here'.

"Pixal, your majesty," Pixal nodded to him, before turning into the Queen's suite. Lloyd only had to wait a few moments before Misako came to the door, pulling him inside.

She hugged him as a hello, and though it was unexpected, Lloyd hugged his mother back happily. She leaned down to his ears. "Lloyd, Harumi is such a nice, polite girl. I knew we made the right choice."

Oh. Of course. Conditioning so he would behave properly around Harumi and not make a fool of his family. "Yes mother," He answered, and followed her into the room and over to where Harumi was sitting, perched stiffly on a loveseat. Misako moved to sit down in an armchair across from her, and Lloyd sat down between them in a third chair.

"Tell me Harumi," Misako prompted. "What traditions do the Ninjago royal family withhold for weddings?"

Harumi cracked a smile that didn't reach her eyes. "We have a traditional ceremony, of course," She nodded. "But each family also exchanges masks as a symbol of unity."

"Masks?" Lloyd interjected.

"Each family has their own crest on theirs," Harumi explained flatly. "Ours is the Mask Of Protection."

"Of course," Misako answered. "Lloyd, why don't you tell Harumi a little about yourself."

Lloyd nodded in response. "I enjoy horseback riding and fencing. You?"

Harumi shrugged. "I don't care much for fencing, I prefer to study texts and work with policies and alliances."

Lloyd glanced awkwardly at his mother, who ignored him and smiled at Harumi. "Nothing wrong with a smart queen."

Harumi nodded cooly. "Of course, I understand that the Dark Island and Celestial City especially have been having issues with government Resistance and rebellions across the country, and I have a few plans I would like to initiate to help."

Her tone made it clear that she had no intention of helping, but was simply looking down at the Dark Island government for not being able to control their citizens. Lloyd glanced at her, annoyed. She had been here for what, an hour, and was already making fun of her future home?

Harumi glanced up, and Lloyd followed her gaze to see Morro at the door. The servant from before, Pixal, looked back towards Misako with a helpless expression, and Misako got up to let Morro in. Lloyd sighed and looked at Harumi, who was smiling as Misako came back with Morro. Frustrated, Lloyd looked to his mother.

"Mother, may I be excused?" He asked with a sigh.

Misako gave him a weird look but nodded. "Of course. You, show him out." She pointed to Pixal with a shrug.

Pixal nodded and lead Lloyd out of the room. As soon as he was outside, Lloyd sighed and practically melted with relief. He looked around, then made his way down the hallway, leaving Pixal at his mother's suite.

Finding his own room, Lloyd entered and immediately ran into Kai.

"Oof," Kai grunted, gently pushing back to hold Lloyd at arm's length. "Where are you off to in such a rush?"

Lloyd sighed. "Sorry I crashed into you. I was just… lost in thought."

"Mm?" Kai asked, prompting Lloyd to continue as he moved to shut the door.

Lloyd's shoulders slumped in defeat, and he stared at the door, his hand still on the handle. "I think Harumi hates me."

"What makes you think that?" Kai asked, leading the way into Lloyd's quarters and flopping down on one of the couches.

Lloyd came to sit across from him, stretching out over the couch cushions and finally relaxing. "She's really… blunt. And she always smiles at Morro, but never at me. Also, she made a snide comment at how we can't control our rebellion."

"Hm," Kai pondered this for a moment, and Lloyd found his eyes wandering lower than Kai's face, after which he looked back up at the brunette in panic. Fortunately, Kai hadn't noticed. "Yeah, she does seem kind of… mean."

"That's it?!" Lloyd asked. "I'm supposed to marry her! You're supposed to be good with women!"

Kai snorted. "Yeeeaaahhh… I would suggest being polite. See how she acts. Princess Harumi might just be cranky from being displaced."

Lloyd took a deep breath and nodded. "I suppose that could be a reason."

There was a knock at the door, and Kai leapt up. "I got it!"

He went to open the door, and Lloyd watched from the couch as the door opened. A young redhead woman was standing there, holding a small package. "Dinner for Prince Lloyd and his bodyguard. His mother sent a message that he was feeling under the weather."

"Oh! Yes, thank you," Kai took the package from her. "Thanks, Skylor."

She winked at him. "Don't mention it."

Jealousy boiled inside Lloyd. Here he was, the boy Lloyd had loved forever was flirting with a… KITCHEN MAID!?

Kai shut the door and turned around to see Lloyd staring at him furiously. "What!?"

Lloyd tried to calm himself down. "Nothing. Nothing. It's nothing." He shook his head. "Forget it."

Kai tilted his head. "Is this about Skylor?"

Lloyd made a grumpy noise and avoided Kai's eyes.

Kai raised an eyebrow. "That's a yes, isn't it?"

Lloyd sighed. "It's just, you get to fall in love and care about someone… you get to choose, and I have to propose to someone who doesn't love me. It's not fair."

"I'm not in love with Skylor," Kai said with a laugh. "Yeesh. You thought that?"

"You LIKE pretty girls," Lloyd argued.

"Skylor's a lesbian if I've ever seen one," Kai confirmed. "Ooh, maybe we can set her up with Harumi."

Lloyd laughed, and Kai opened the packages, handing Lloyd a box of his favorite steamed dumplings. Kai pulled out a box of spicy seafood skewers and bit into one, chewing thoughtfully.

"I think Skylor would love to hook up with Harumi," Kai said in a philosophical tone. "And that would be really funny, especially when your dad finds out."

Lloyd munched a dumpling but looked up anxiously. "We're not _actually_ going to do that… right?"

Kai glared at him. "Of course not. It was a joke!"

"Oh… yeah," Lloyd looked away. "Haha. Funny."

He was so entranced in his brooding that he didn't notice Kai had stopped eating before his guard friend was standing directly in front of him. Kai yanked Lloyd's dumplings away from him and grinned at the young prince.

"Kai, what are you-" Lloyd started, but Kai cut him off.

"I know that look," Kai raised an eyebrow.

"What look!?" Lloyd protested. "I wasn't doing anything!"

"You're brooding again," Kai teased. "And you know what that means…" He trailed off, grinning.

Lloyd rolled his eyes. "Kai we are _far_ too old for-"

"TICKLE FIGHT!" Kai shouted, tackling Lloyd and running his fingers up and down Lloyd's sides.

"STOP! STOP!" Lloyd gasped between laughter.

Between laughing, Lloyd could barely gasp for air, much less fight back. He managed to square himself, though he was kind of scrunched up, trying to protect his ticklish torso from Kai's flying fingers. He lashed out with his legs, and both boys fell off the couch and crashed to the floor, laughing hysterically.

The meal long forgotten, the two boys continued to fight.

**CuO**

"You're staying here tonight?" Lloyd asked that night as Kai made himself comfortable on the couch near the door. Kai's heartbeat sped up when he heard Lloyd's hopeful tone.

"Safety Protocol," Kai answered professionally. "We have guests in the palace, and I have to stay here to make sure no one tries anything funny."

There was another reason. Kai loved watching Lloyd sleep. The prince looked so innocent and calm when he slept; it filled Kai with a sense of relief every time he saw Lloyd asleep. Kai had a huge crush on Lloyd, but he'd never admit it. The prince was _engaged_ for crying out loud.

Settling down on the couch, Kai watched Lloyd gently for a moment until the prince's breathing evened. Then Kai hopped up from the couch and slipped across the room, using his guard's training to stay stealthy. On the other side of the room, Kai pulled open a secret section of the wall and slipped into the servant's passages inside. All rooms in the palace had them so servants could efficiently slip from room to room but remain invisible.

Kai crept through the dark halls, feeling like an assassin instead of a respected bodyguard. Slipping through the darkness, he finally stopped at the room he was looking for.

The Princess's Suite.

Kai took a deep breath and was about to peek through the crack in the door when a voice caught his ears.

"Kai?" Someone hissed.

Kai cringed and looked around, finally finding the owner of said voice. "Nya?"

Nya approached him in the dark, both of them barely illuminated by the light from Harumi's room. "What are you doing?"

"I…" Kai started, but something else caught his ears, and he stopped.

"You…" Nya prompted.

"Stop talking," Kai told her, turning to peer through the crack in the door.

The Princess's Suite was laid out in a similar manner to Lloyd's. The bed was in the center, with bookshelves and wardrobes covering two of the walls. A desk and a balcony occupied the last wall, pale green curtains covering the french doors to the outside world.

On the bed, lounging in pale emerald pajamas, was Princess Harumi. She was laughing softly, looking content and happy.

Beside her, dressed in black and green, was Prince Morro.

Harumi finished laughing, looking up at Morro with sparkling eyes. "You weren't this funny in your letters. I wish your cousin was more like you."

Morro grinned at her. "Why? There's only one of me."

Harumi giggled, nodding. "True." She sighed. "I just wish he was a bit more… interesting. He acts like a cardboard cutout, not a person."

Morro nodded. "Yeah, that's Lloyd for you. Handsome, but dumb as a brick with the social skills of a…" He leaned into Harumi and whispered into her ear, grinning mischievously.

She giggled. "I couldn't have said it better."

A strange sense of hatred and anger exploded through Kai, and he fought to keep it under control. Nya noticed, however, and shot him a strange look. He sucked in a breath and went back to watching Morro and Harumi.

"The truth is…" Harumi sighed. "I don't want to marry your cousin. I want _you_."

"I…" Morro blushed. "I want you too."

"What's the point?" Harumi sighed, climbing off her bed and walking in a circle around the room. "Of me coming here if I'm going to fall in love with the wrong prince?"

Morro got a mischievous look in his eyes. "It's too bad Lloyd is still alive. Of course, if he died, for one reason or another, that would leave only my father and me as the last heirs to the kingdom…"

Harumi turned to look at him, a sly look on her face. "Just what are you implying? If the prince were to die… that would be… _tragic._"

Panic began to spike through Kai as he watched Morro stand from the bed and cross the room to Harumi's side.

"So tragic," He whispered. "So very, very tragic."

Harumi smiled. "Tomorrow morning then?"

Morro grinned at her. "Request a private breakfast with the prince. I'll get you the poison by dawn."

Harumi grinned, looking thrilled.

Behind Kai, Nya gasped.

Harumi stiffened, and Morro looked around. "Someone's heard us. I need to go."

He turned, and Harumi scanned the wall until she found the door-segment. She stepped towards it, and Kai and Nya both nearly tripped over each other, sprinting to Lloyd's room. Outside his door, in the dark passage, they stopped, gasping for breath.

Kai could speak first. "Did you hear what I heard?"

Nya's eyes were fearful in the dark. "They're going to kill Prince Lloyd, Kai."

Kai slumped. "I have to protect him." He turned to the door, but Nya grabbed his shoulder.

"Not yet," She hissed. "Even if you warn him, Morro will find another way to kill his cousin. If anything, he's resourceful."

Kai growled in defeat, swatting Nya away. "Alright, fine. What do you suggest we do?"

Nya glanced around as if double-checking that no one could hear them. "You need to get Lloyd out of the palace."

"What?" Kai asked, confused. "Why?"

Nya sighed. "I'll explain everything later. For now, get Lloyd out of here. Midnight. I'll send someone up."

Kai nodded, even though he didn't completely understand. Nya nodded her thanks to him in the darkness and the siblings separated.

Entering Lloyd's room, Kai was greeted with the most horrible noise in the entire world. A noise that wouldn't affect anyone but him, but was still the worst thing Kai could imagine.

Lloyd, it seemed, was having a nightmare.

The young prince cried out, tosing frantically and scabbling at his sheets in a panic, sobbing hysterically. Kai froze for a moment before kicking off his boots and running to Lloyd's side.

Lloyd sobbed harder, and Kai swallowed before climbing onto the prince's bed and grabbing his shoulders. "Lloyd! Lloyd! Lloyd, wake up!"

"K-K-KAI!?" Lloyd cried between sobs, frantically grabbing onto Kai for reassurance. Kai tried to ignore the excited jump in his heart when Lloyd hugged him desperately.

"Shhh," He soothed, glancing at the clock. 10:55. They had an hour. "Shh, Lloyd, It's okay, you were just having a nightmare."

"A nightmare?" Lloyd asked shakily, curling into Kai for warmth. "It was only a nightmare?"

"Yeah," Kai stroked Lloyd's hair absentmindedly but stopped when he felt the prince's pulse jump. "Just a nightmare, Lloyd."

"I… It's just…" Lloyd sniffed. "Harumi and I were getting married, and then she suddenly turned into a demon and tried to attack me, and you weren't there because my father said you weren't allowed to come and…" He trailed off. "But I _wanted_ you to be there because… because…"

"There's no way your father is keeping me away from your wedding," Kai soothed. "I…" He sighed. "Because… because…"

Both of them froze, then looked up at one another, heartbeats racing. Gentle brown eyes met pale green. Lloyd slipped his hand into Kai's. Tan against pale.

Neither said a word, but both thought the same thing.

_It's because I love you._

"Lloyd," Kai started, gently stroking Lloyd's hand with his own.

"Kai," Lloyd answered, warmth spreading through him. Kai knew. He knew, and he cared. They were the same and different. They were two souls, entwined by fate but held apart by destiny, hearts beating in sync, eyes locked on one another.

Kai glanced at Lloyd's clock and remembered suddenly. "We have to get you out of here."

**CuO**

"Where are we going?" Lloyd asked Kai as he followed the bodyguard through the servant's corridors. Ahead of them, but out of earshot, was the kitchen maid who delivered their meals earlier, Skylor. She had been sent by Nya to help, and unfortunately, they had no choice but to trust her.

"Prince Morro and Princess Harumi are plotting to kill you," Kai answered with a sigh. "Getting you away from the palace was Nya's idea."

"There's another reason," Skylor added, turning to look at them. Apparently, she hadn't been out of earshot. Whoops.

"There is?" Lloyd asked, glancing at Kai, who shrugged.

"The Resistance is going to attack soon," Skylor answered. "We'd might as well leave one heir to the kingdom alive if we're going to cause anarchy."

"We?" Lloyd asked, looking horrified.

"You're a part of the Resistance?" Kai asked her, looking horrified.

"Who isn't?" Skylor asked. "My father practically _runs_ it."

"Your father?" Lloyd inquired, picking up his pace to keep up with Skylor.

"Head Chef Chen," Skylor answered. "It's not important. We need to keep moving."

Kai and Lloyd made eye contact and continued walking, following Skylor through the dark until she opened a door and they stepped out into the city. Celestial City glittered in the light from the shops and stores. Behind them, the palace loomed, casting it's dark, ominous presence over the city. Over beneath a tree stood Nya, who was holding the bridles of two horses.

Skylor handed Kai a satchel and nodded to him, before turning to Lloyd. "We're counting on you."

"You… are?" Lloyd asked her.

Kai chuckled. "No pressure."

Skylor rolled her eyes, then smiled at Lloyd. "Just remember; The Resistance never quits."

"The Resistance never quits?" Lloyd asked, but Skylor had already turned back to the palace.

"What do you think she meant by that?" Kai asked as they approached Nya. Nya smiled at them and motioned to the horses.

"I have no idea," Lloyd answered, mounting his horse.

Kai leapt up on his own steed, and both of them looked down at Nya.

"Head north," She advised. "To the town of Great Lake. The Ice Fishers there will take you in. Stay there until someone comes for you."

"Why?" Kai asked Nya.

She sighed. "The Resistance is going to attack. It'll be too dangerous for both of you in the kingdom. Stay in the Northern Kingdoms and you'll be fine."

"But I thought the Ice Emperor killed outsiders," Lloyd stared at Nya anxiously.

"Rumors, probably," Nya answered, and Kai nodded to her.

"Will you be alright?" He asked his little sister, and Lloyd suddenly realised that Kai was leaving a family behind. His sister and his parents. What would happen to them when he was gone?

"I'll be fine," Nya answered. "After all, The Resistance never quits."

**CuO**

They didn't stop until four in the morning, and when they did, Kai built a fire in a copse of trees, and Lloyd went to look for more wood.

As he was exploring, however, Lloyd noticed something strange in the distance. He paused for a moment, then climbed a tree to get a better look.

Celestial City was on fire.

Lloyd swallowed as he watched a palace spire fall, tears beginning to form in his eyes. This was bad. Really, really, really bad. This was a problem Kai couldn't fix because that should've been Lloyd. He should be burning there, with his parents and the city. Swallowing a lump in his throat, Lloyd stared at the flames licking the air and, speaking softly, broke the morning's silence with four words.

"The Resistance never quits."

* * *

**A/N: Argh, It's finally done. I didn't expect it to be this freaking… LONG! Anyway, however, I have an announcement to make.**

**Requests are closed until further notice. **

**Any requests given after this upload until I say otherwise WILL BE IGNORED. I am backed up THIRTEEN stories, and I need to finish them first. **

**I feel like I shouldn't have to say this, but one of my rules was; NO CROSSOVERS. This includes other LEGO themes such as Legends of Chima or Nexo Knights. If you submitted a ship with a crossover, don't worry, I can still do your ship, just not the crossover.**

**Thank you for your time.**


	10. Lightning Spirit

**Request: Jay got turned into a ghost instead of Cole**

**Requested by: Jaya Fan**

**Warnings: N/A**

**Pairings: Jaya**

**AU: Jay is a ghost instead of Cole**

**Lightning Spirit**

Dawn was upon the hills.

Golden light seeped over the edges of the abandoned buildings and played in the scraggly bone-dry branches of dead trees. No birds sang, nor did bats flutter. The scene was devoid of the normal natural celebration of the breaking light. Such was the air of the Temple of Airjitzu. The sun crept farther up the horizon, and the light began to fade from brilliant gold to pure white.

Shouting broke the water-thick silence.

Three figures burst from the abandoned temple, flinging their bodies out into the sunshine as fast as they could, stumbling at the stairs and tripping over the rough hemp rope that held them together like a twisted lifeline.

Gasping for breath in the bright morning light, Kai held his arms up to the sky. "My hand! I can see my hand! We made it!"

Silence accompanies as Cole and Zane check their own arms, pleased to find they are still intact from the violent encounter with a ghostly Sensai.

Cole grinned at his solid hands, then looked to his right, expecting to see and hear Jay crack a joke.

Jay wasn't there.

"Guys, where's Jay!?" Cole exclaimed, feeling panic rise in his voice as he stared at the snapped hemp rope.

"Hey guys, you almost forgot the scroll!" A voice called, and all three human Ninja gasped in horror at their friend.

Jay tilted his head, confused by his friend's response. "Why are you guys all staring at me?"

"Jay, you," Cole took a breath, glancing back at Kai and Zane, confused as how to break the news to Jay. Kai shrugged and Zane slumped.

"I didn't what?" Jay asked, staring at Cole, confused.

"You didn't make it out in time," Cole answered sadly.

"You're a…" Kai inhaled, looking unsure of himself.

"I'm a what?!" Jay asked, panic beginning to seep into his voice. "What's wrong!?"

"You are… a ghost," Zane answered, sadly bowing his head to stare miserably at the dusty dirt of the temple courtyard.

"I'm a…" Jay stared down at his hands, accidentally dropping the Scroll Of Airjitzu in the process. "Ghost?"

* * *

Nya had never wished for a normal life before.

Her life was just fine, she told anyone who asked. Sure, attacking supervillains and magical weapons could ruin anyone's personal life, but Nya had almost never let it get to her.

Then there were the days when it did get to her.

Cole was her "Perfect Match". Kai joined Chen. Lloyd was possessed. Those times, she had cried, desperately trying to hide the jagged pain of reality behind a mask of a Samurai.

Thunder rumbled on the horizon, dry lightning flickering across the dying forest outside Sensai Yang's temple. Nya stared out of one of the windows on the bounty to see the ninja approaching the ship. Wu called something from somewhere in the ship, and Ronin snapped back.

Nya squinted, then stared. She couldn't get a good view of Jay. He kept flickering, like a lantern in a gust of wind. With a sigh, Nya lifted her arm to her face and checked the time on her watch. 10:22 am.

Thumping on the deck alerted her to the obvious fact that the Ninja had returned from their latest adventure. Nya turned away from the window and ran up the stairs two at a time, excited to see her honorary siblings again even after being left behind on this mission.

Kai stopped her at the top of the stairs.

"Nya, can I talk to you for a second?" He asked, stepping in front of her, blocking her view of the other three Ninja.

Nya sighed. "About what?"

"Um…" Kai glanced around anxiously. "I need to tell you something before you-"

"Yeah, sure," Nya waved him off. "Can I at least see the others first?"

Kai looked at her, exasperated. "Nya I don't think that's the best-"

Nya rolled her eyes and gently pushed Kai aside, stepping towards the other Ninja with an exasperated sigh.

What she saw made her freeze up completely.

Jay was a ghost.

His green skin, pale translucency, and even the eerie color of his clothes all contributed to that fact. Nya couldn't stop staring at him and the world was spinning and there was a horrible screaming noise coming from _somewhere, _and Kai was trying to soothe her and Cole was talking but there was no _sound_ and Zane was consoling Jay and-

Nya probably overreacted.

Jay turned to speak to her, and the only word that left his mouth scared her half to death. "Nya."

Having your name spoken by a ghost is terrifying. Having your name spoken by your ghost friend is even more terrifying.

Fight or flight kicked in. Nya turned away from Jay, trembling, and fled.

* * *

"You can't stay in there forever, Nya," Kai called through her locked door. "Please come out."

"Is Jay still a ghost?" Nya asked, her voice muffled by the door.

"Yes," Kai answered with a sigh.

"Then I'm not coming out," Nya snapped, turning away from her door and flopping over her bed. With a miserable sigh, she rolled over and picked up her phone, flicking it on only to discover that she had zero notifications nor did she have internet access, which meant there was no way she could distract herself from the inevitable truth that Jay was a ghost.

Nya dropped her phone on the side of her bed and sighed deeply, tears beginning to form in her eyes as she stared at the ceiling. Jay was a ghost. She was the Master Of Water. Even if it was possible for the two of them to be together, what if she hurt him? How would they do things normal couples did like kissing? Would she hurt him? Could he possess her?

The thought made her shiver, and Nya closed her eyes, willing herself to forget that. Jay wouldn't possess her… would he?

There was a knock at the door.

"Go away, Kai," Nya growled at the knocker.

"Nya?" An all-too-familiar voice called. "We need to talk."

Excitement spiked through Nya's core at the sound of Jay's voice. If he had knocked, then that would mean…

"Come in," Nya called, standing up to unlock and open her door.

Jay was still a ghost.

Nya slumped, and watched behind Jay, as Cole walked down the hallway. Of course, it had been Cole who knocked. Jay hadn't figured out how to use his ghostly hands for human tasks yet.

"Hey," Jay nodded to her, scuffing his foot against the floorboards.

"Hi," Ny answered, stepping back to let him into her room.

"Look, Nya," Jay started, taking a breath. "I'm sorry. Like, really, really, really sorry. If I'd known this would affect you like this, I wouldn't have-"

"There wasn't anything you could do, was there?" Nya asked sadly, looking up at him with dark eyes. "It just happened."

"It didn't hurt," Jay offered. "I mean, one minute I was me, and the next, I was a ghost, but still me. I'm sorry that I scared you, though."

Nya inhaled. "I'm sorry I… freaked out."

"Nya…" Jay glanced at the floor, looking nervous. "You know I still have… feelings... For you… right?"

Nya smiled at him. "You're pretty terrible at hiding it."

Jay smiled slightly, his cheeks pinking.

"But…" Nya started anxiously. She was venturing into unknown territory here. This was dangerous. "I still care about you, Jay."

"You- you do?" Jay looked up, hopeful.

"As much as I'd like to deny it," Nya answered with a shrug.

"Do…" Jay ventured. "Do you think we could… be together? Like, you and me?"

Nya looked away, unwilling to see that she was about to break Jay's heart for the third time. "I… I don't think so. I mean, I'm the water ninja, and you're a ghost. Who's to say I won't accidentally hurt you, or you won't possess me or…"

"I get it," Jay answered sullenly. "I really do."

Nya felt tears well in her eyes, and she fought to look away from Jay. He stood up and looked at her for a long time. She could feel his eyes burning holes in her back before he turned away and walked out of her room, shutting the door behind him.

* * *

The bounty hit the ground with a crash, sides splintering as it crushed itself into the earth of the Temple of Airjitzu.

"Is everyone alright?" Misako asked anxiously as the Ninja pulled themselves off the deck and to the ground.

"A little shaken up," Lloyd confessed.

"Nothing tightening a few screws won't fix," Zane nodded.

"But where's Jay?" Nya asked, looking around anxiously.

"What if…" Cole started but paused as everyone looked over at him. "What if he didn't make it through in time?"

"What if he's gone forever?" Kai asked again, sounding sad.

"I didn't even get to say goodbye," Nya murmured, on the verge of tears. Kai put an arm around her, trying to soothe his hurting little sister.

She sniffed, then buried her head in Kai's shoulder. "I'd do anything to have him back."

"Anything?" A voice asked.

"Anything," Nya confirmed, swallowing a sob.

"Even a kiss?" Jay asked, walking out from behind a boulder.

"JAY!" Everyone simultaneously exclaimed, running forward to embrace their friend. Kai nearly dropped Nya as he joined Cole, Zane, and Lloyd in a bone-crushing hug. Jay was nearly hidden from view by his friends as everyone simultaneously tried to scold him, hug him, and make another joke at the same time.

"You smooth little-" Cole started.

"COLE!" Zane cut him off.

"What?!" Cole asked, looking at Zane with a suspiciously innocent expression. "I didn't say anything."

Zane rolled his eyes.

Jay finally pushed his friends aside and stepped towards Nya on soft feet. The way a cat walks, smooth and silent like fog over a harbor.

"Nya," he called, gentle and innocent, like a boy's first crush.

"Jay," Nya breathed, feeling tears of joy welling in her eyes.

Rather than fleeing from the sight of him, this time she ran to his side and they embraced, slamming themselves against each other in a tangle of limbs and longing. Nya felt tears running down her cheeks; tears of joy as Jay gripped her against his body.

Jay nuzzled her cheek gently, and Nya pushed his head aside, catching his mouth in a passionate kiss.

"Well, um, glad they're happy," Kai glanced at Lloyd who shrugged awkwardly.

"...and for the record, _Zane_," Cole was too busy arguing with the nindroid to notice his best friend. "I was _going_ to say 'sparkplug' so there was _no_ reason to cut me off."

Jay and Nya finally broke apart, not for need of air, but actually because Cole's comment was causing them to laugh too hard to continue. Jay glanced up at the sky, at the green moon and the tiny, glittering stars far away from them.

"Happy Day of the Departed, Nya," He whispered, stroking Nya's hands.

Nya leaned up to kiss his cheek gently. "Happy Day of the Departed to you too, Jay."

* * *

**A/N: This actually turned out exactly how I expected it too. Not terrible, but not exactly phenomenal. Hmm. **

**Anyway, hope you enjoyed. Requests are still closed for the time being.**

**Next time: Disneywarrior's (guest) request for a Master Chen AU.**


	11. Chen, Master Of Serpents

**Request: Chen and Clouse are good, Chen was abandoned as a baby and is half serpentine, but he is a lost elemental master that can control snakes.**

**Requested by: Disneywarrior**

**Warnings: Human/Serpentine baby**

**Pairings: Slightly mentioned Kailor. ChenXOC**

**AU: Chen is a good guy.**

**A/N: This is, by far, the most interesting request I've gotten. Kinda weird to imagine Chen as a good guy. Also, this story does contain one OC, Skylor's mother Iris. She may appear in a future multi-chapter story. Just want to clear up some confusion. (Note: Dr. Melissa is named after my cousin)**

**Chen, Master of Serpents**

Lei knew better than this.

_Inbreeding is illegal_. A law that had been drilled into her from an early age. _A human-serpentine hybrid child would never survive. Be wary of all humans. Never agree to anything a human asks you._

Slithering through the shadows of Ninjago Village, the largest human town on the continent, Lei crushed her baby to her chest. He was wrapped in a crimson blanket, hidden from the view of other pedestrians, and, as she had just checked moments ago, still asleep.

If Pylis and his son, Pythor discovered the baby, they would surely kill him, and Lei couldn't let that happen. She cuddled Chen against her, slithering past two chatty young women and down into a dark alleyway.

Glancing up at the torn posters and crumpled food wrappers that littered the alleyway, Lei sighed heavily and looked down at the ground, finding a cozy spot in some trash where she could leave Chen.

Leaning over, Lei placed her infant son in the trash pile, soothingly stroking his fuzzy red hair and nearly crying as he whimpered for her. With a miserable sight, she placed her forehead against her son's and whispered to him softly.

"I'll miss you, baby," She hissed, her 'S' sounds dragged out as she spoke to her son.

Chen whimpered, and opened his dark purple eyes, staring at her for a long time before gurgling and yawning. Lei's heart melted, and she fought the urge to scoop up her son and slither off to find Jerome, the human who had fathered him. That wasn't possible. Jerome was married to a human woman and he would never accept an Anacondrai girl and a half-bred baby.

Lei glanced around and slithered away from her son. Chen cried out, but Lei didn't turn back, not wanting to see her precious baby boy crying so badly. Instead, she inhaled deeply, filling her lungs with cool air and slithered away, down the alleyway and out of sight.

* * *

**Eighteen Years Later**

Being thrown out of an orphanage at eighteen was never Chen's ideal life goal.

Yet it happened regardless.

Shivering and stumbling through the streets of Ninjago City, Chen gripped his maroon hoodie jacket closer to his thin body and glanced around anxiously at passing pedestrians. Snow fell from the sky in white flakes, sticking to the pavement, shop windows, benches, and even to Chen's fire-red hair. His sighed, shivering, and glanced up at the window of a restaurant next to him.

"Yum-Yum's Noodle House," he read aloud to himself, then glanced downwards. "Oh! Help wanted!"

Taking a deep breath, Chen pushed open the door and walked into the warmly lit, yet strangely empty noodle house. Stepping up to the counter, he was met with a young woman filing coins. She looked up as he stepped in front of her, mild surprise in her eyes.

"Oh, hello," She smiled warmly, her cheeks dimpling. Chen stared, fascinated by her smile. It was so… gentle. Warm, almost, like… like that one time, the cook at the orphanage patted him on the head for helping.

"Er, um, yes, hello," Chen answered quickly, his cheeks pinking as he realized he had been staring at her a bit too long.

She laughed softly at him, and the sound crept into Chen's ears and curled up to sleep, like a tiny kitten who wants pats. "I'm sorry, but we're not open for another 45 minutes." She said helplessly.

"Oh," Chen exhaled. "I saw your sign on the window, and-"

"You're here to apply?" the young woman asked. "Sure! Let me just…" She trailed off, digging through a drawer in the counter and pulling out a packet of paper. "Here's the form. Can I get you something to eat while you wait?"

"Oh, um," Chen sighed and averted her eyes. "I don't have any cash."

"That's alright," the young woman smiled at him. "You can pay me back later."

"Thanks, um…" Chen blushed again when he realized he hadn't learned the young woman's name.

"Iris," She told him, holding out a hand.

He took her hand and shook it gently. "Chen."

Iris smiled at him, then turned to enter the kitchen of the restaurant. Chen looked down at the form and grinned. Boy, was he going to _love_ working here.

* * *

As it, unfortunately, turned out, Chen did _not_ love working at Yum-Yum's. The work hours were long, hot and boring, and he barely had enough money to rent a shabby apartment. The only reason he stayed was because of Iris.

It turned out that Iris was incredibly kind to Chen. She cared enough to ask him what was going on when he was having a hard time and noticed when he was sad. She brought him candy on Halloween and gifts on Christmas. Chen had never felt so… loved. Another word he had learned from Iris. Love. Life was terrible in most respects, but it was also wonderful in some.

It was cool Friday night when Chen got another newspaper thrown at him. Instead of tossing it back, he picked it up and headed outside to throw away the trash. Outside, to his horror, he found Iris sitting on the curb of the sidewalk, looking dejected.

Tossing the trash, Chen moved to sit beside Iris. "Everything okay?" He asked as gently as he could muster.

Iris sniffed. "I'm fine. It's just…"

"Yeah?" Chen resisted the urge to put his arm around her, though his heart was screaming at him too.

"My mother died when I was little," Iris answered with a shrug. "Today was her birthday."

"It was?" Chen asked, not knowing what else to say. "I'm sorry." He had never met his parents, so he had no idea how to react to Iris' sadness.

"It's okay," Iris leaned backward, and Chen suddenly discovered that he had put his arm around Iris, and not only that, she was _leaning into him_. Suppressing a screech of excitement, Chen rubbed Iris' shoulder in a soothing way.

"Is there anything I can do?" He asked her.

"Not really," Iris sniffed. "But thanks for offering."

Chen sighed. He was not one to give up easily. "Do you… um… want to… uh, go out to that nice coffee shop downtown? I'd take you after our shift ends." His cheeks were the color of a very ripe tomato, and Chen swallowed anxiously.

"I'd like that," Iris smiled at him. "That's kind of you."

"Okay," Chen felt a rush of relief wash over him as he stared down at Iris. "Does 14:00 work for you?"

Iris smiled. "Yeah. See you then?"

Chen only nodded, grinning like a madman. Oh boy, today just went from okay-ish to _great_. He hopped up and helped Iris up, and the two of them walked inside holding hands.

* * *

That afternoon out with Iris was what kickstarted the rest of Chen's life. For the first time, he wasn't alive, he was _living_! He had a girlfriend, and soon he found himself happier than he'd ever been before. Which was why, now, one year later, Chen approached Iris with a ring in his pocket. The two of them had different jobs now, as Yum-Yum's had closed down only a month after their date at the coffee shop.

In the middle of the Ninjago City Botanical Gardens, late in the evening as to not disturb the other guests, right in the middle of the jungle exhibit, Chen proposed.

Iris said yes.

The wedding was amazing. Chen couldn't have been happier. They held it outside, in the warm air on the seashore. Chen couldn't believe that he'd married the woman of his dreams and they were opening their own noodle house together.

Life was wonderful.

* * *

Cancer struck like lightning.

Iris and Chen were at a doctor's appointment, and Dr. Melissa was looking at Iris. The young woman was currently in her fifth month of pregnancy, and the baby had just started to kick. A routine checkup that changed lives.

Dr. Melissa stared at the ultrasound for a long time before she looked over at Iris and Chen. She glanced at Iris worriedly before her face broke out into a huge smile. "Congratulations! The ultrasound shows that you have a healthy baby girl!"

"Hah!" Chen exclaimed, poking Iris in the shoulder. "Told you she was a girl!"

"You did not!" Iris retorted, not noticing that Dr. Melissa had gotten up and come back with another doctor. "Just last week you said our baby would be a crested gecko!"

"Mrs. Chen?" The other doctor asked, anxiously looking over the new couple.

"Oh, um, yes?" Iris asked, looking up at the doctor who sighed sadly.

"We need to run a few more tests, if it's alright with you," The doctor explained. Before Iris could ask, the doctor reassured her. "Your baby is fine. We believe that there may be an abnormal tissue growth in your uterine lining, however."

"Of course," Iris nodded, and the doctor turned to Dr. Melissa. "Melissa, will you send for a blood test?"

Dr. Melissa nodded and left the room. The other doctor began running the tests, clucking her tongue nervously. She flipped through several images before calling in a third doctor to loom at the pictures and give her a second opinion.

Chen took Iris's hand and rubbed it soothingly. Iris clutched his hand like it was a lifeline, drumming her other fingers on the armrests of the doctor's chair. She glanced up at him, and he shrugged at her, just as nervous as she was.

The doctors sighed heavily, and one of them turned to the other. "Get Melissa."

The doctor nodded and left the room, returning a few moments later with a flustered Dr. Melissa. She sighed she stepped into the room.

"Is… everything okay?" Chen asked. "Is Iris going to be okay?"

Dr. Melissa rubbed her forehead. "I wish I didn't have to ask these questions, but," She picked up a clipboard with a few papers on it. "Have you experienced any of the following symptoms in the past few weeks…" She trailed off, listing symptoms. Iris began to nod yes to a lot of them, but also shook her head to a bunch of them as well. Chen took a deep breath and squeezed Iris' fingers.

Dr. Melissa rubbed her forehead. "Mrs. Chen, due to your blood tests and other results, we have reason to believe that you may carry a rare strain of uterine cancer."

"Uterine Cancer?" Iris looked panicked. "My mother died from that."

Dr. Melissa sighed. "There are available treatment options, fortunately. However such treatments such as Chemotherapy and Radiation Therapy could be dangerous for a woman carrying a baby."

"Can I wait until after she's born?" Iris asked.

Dr. Melissa checked her notes. "With the rate the cancer is spreading and the probability of success, your most likely chance of survival involves aborting the fetus."

"Aborting the fetus!?" Iris looked panicked. "NO!"

"Iris," Chen grabbed his wife's shoulder. "We really should consider your life above the life of the baby."

Iris shook him off. "Don't side with her! My baby is not going to die before she even has a chance at life!" She stood up, angry. "Come on, Chen. We're going home." Iris stormed out of the room, radiating so much malice that a couple of nurses and an intern jumped out of her way.

Dr. Melissa sighed, then looked up at Chen. "She'll be stubborn about this, but perhaps you can talk some sense into her."

Chen shook his head sadly. "She's made up her mind." He got up and left the room, pain throbbing through him at the idea of losing Iris. His Iris. His precious wife was sick and refused to get help.

Swallowing a sob, Chen followed Iris out of the clinic and towards home.

* * *

Iris died a day after Skylor Alexis Chen was born.

Chen was horrified and saddened by this, and rather than care for his daughter, he left premie Skylor at the hospital while he went home to think. Digging through Iris's things (her sock drawer, in particular) he discovered something odd.

It was a manilla envelope that was torn open at the top. Chen stared at it for a long time before opening it. Inside was a piece of paper with a handwritten note on it, addressed to him.

Anxiously, Chen began reading.

_My Dearest Chen,_

_If you're reading this, I'm dead._

_Nevermind that, I have something I was never able to tell you. Something I should've told you long ago but was never able to. Something that weighs on me physically._

_I am an Elemental Master._

_I know this may come as a shock to you, but I wanted to write it all out so you know what that means and what I was able to do._

_The Master Of Amber has the power of Absorption, similar to how prehistoric Amber would absorb insects or lizards, preserving them. I can absorb and use the powers of other Elemental masters._

_I'm sorry I never told you about this. I thought it would be too much of a burden for the two of us to bear. If we ever have children, however, they may end up inheriting __**our**_ _elemental powers._

_Yes, I wrote __**our**_ _elemental powers. You are an elemental master as well, whether you know it or not. I sensed it when we first shook hands that day at the restaurant. You're the Elemental Master of Serpentes. You're the Master of Serpents. _

_Chen, you can control Snakes. _

_I understand that this probably came as a shock to you, and I've included the phone numbers of a few of my Elemental Master friends, as well as Wu and Garmadon, the sons of the First Spinjitzu Master._

_Love,_

_Iris._

**(A/N: These aren't real phone numbers, btw, so please don't call them)**

_Wu: 202 - 555 - 0104_

_Garmadon: 202 - 555 - 0167_

_Maya (Master Of Water): 202 - 555 - 0155_

_Libby (Master of Lightning): 202 - 555 - 0107_

Chen stared at the letter in horror, then got up and grabbed the phone of its receiver. With shaky fingers, he dialed the first number on the paper, the one belonging to Wu. The phone range aimlessly for a few moments before it clicked and someone on the other end of the line picked up.

"Hello, this is Master Wu. To whom am I currently speaking?" A pleasant, older voice on the other end of the phone asked.

"My name is Chen," Chen answered. "And I think I'm an Elemental Master."

* * *

**Six Months Later**

Chen stepped out of the car with Skylor in his arms. He stared up at the height of the Mountain of a Thousand Steps, taking a deep breath. At the base of the stairs were a brown-haired man and a young woman.

"Excuse me," Chen walked over to them. "Are you Garmadon and Misako? I'm supposed to meet them here."

"Yes, that's us," The young woman smiled. "I'm Misako, and this is Garmadon." She nudged him, and he nodded to Chen. "You must be Chen. And who's this?" She asked, motioning to Chen's daughter, wrapped snugly in his arms.

"This is Skylor," Chen answered, tilting the baby in his arms so Misako could get a better look. He even caught Garmadon cracking a rare smile at Skylor. "Are we supposed to head up to the monastery… or…"

"Oh, yes," Misako snapped away from looking at Skylor and glanced up at the monastery resting peacefully on the cliffs. "I can carry her if you'd-"

"That's alright," Chen gripped Skylor closer to him and followed Misako up the stairs.

When they finally reached the top, Chen was surprised to find over forty other people gathered in the spacious courtyard. Some were sitting on benches, reclining on the training equipment, and one was even hovering twenty feet in the air. Chen stared for a moment, overwhelmed as he watched two elemental masters interact playfully as if they were siblings.

He swallowed and prepared to be dragged into the crowd when a middle-aged man with blond hair came over to them.

"You must be Chen," He commented, taking one of Chen's hands in his own and shaking it gently. "And this is the next Master of Amber, I presume?"

"This is Skylor," Chen explained, shifting the baby resting against him.

"Welcome," The man smiled. "I'm Wu, son of the First Spinjitzu Master, Elemental Master of Creation. I believe we spoke on the phone?"

"We did," Chen nodded. "Are these the Elemental Masters?"

Wu smiled again. "Yes, these are the Elemental Masters. I should introduce you to Ray and Maya. They have a son about your daughter's age."

Chen smiled back tentatively. "What about my abilities? I've never learned of a master of Serpents."

"To be honest, we thought the power had been lost when Jerome didn't father any elemental children," Wu explained. "Then we learned that he'd had a flick with a serpentine woman in college and she may have had a baby. We've been looking ever since. I was about to call off the search the day you called me."

"A flick with a _serpentine_ woman?" Chen asked, his world spinning. He quickly handed Skylor to Miskao just in case he passed out.

"Er, yes," Wu glanced at Garmadon, looking uncomfortable. "We… thought you knew?"

Chen grabbed his head as tiny dark spots began to cloud his vision, eventually taking them over as he fell to the earth, out cold.

* * *

When Chen opened his eyes, he was in a dimly lit infirmary inside the monastery. Skylor was in a borrowed crib from someone across the room. A quick glance at the clock confirmed that it was evening, almost six.

"What…" Chen asked out loud, sitting up gingerly so as not to hurt himself.

"Oh, you're up," A voice from across the room commented, and Chen saw a boy about Garmadon's age with black hair hiding his eyes stand up and look at him.

"Who are you?" Chen asked, standing up and stepping across the room, ignoring his lightheadedness. He needed to hold Skylor. He needed to feel grounded.

"I'm Clouse," The young man nodded slightly, going back to his chair. "Master of Magic. Master Wu sent me to make sure you were okay."

"I'm fine," Chen answered, glancing towards the blinds on the window and hugging Skylor to his chest. She cooed happily and laid one of her tiny hands on his thumb. Chen's heart melted, then immediately, a wave of nausea washed over him.

He was half serpentine. He was half-snake. That certainly explained a lot of things. The scaly skin on his temples, his enlarged canines, and even his oddly colored eyes. He was certainly half serpentine. That meant, however, that Skylor was one-fourth serpentine. Chen glanced at his baby daughter, double-checking her for any signs of snakieness. She appeared normal-ish, and Chen relaxed, glancing back into the room at Clouse.

"Yes?" Clouse asked.

"Where are Wu and Garmadon?" Chen asked him, standing up.

"I dunno," Clouse shrugged. "Probably getting dinner or something."

Chen sighed, frustrated with him. "I don't know what to do. My wife died, and it turns out I'm half-snake, not to mention my daughter and I have elemental powers, and…."

Clouse rolled his eyes. "Look, I can go find Wu and Garmadon if you want me too…"

"No, no," Chen sat back down on his bed. "It's fine. I'm just overwhelmed."

Clouse sighed. "Welcome to the life of an Elemental Master."

Chen glanced at him, raising an eyebrow.

Clouse didn't meet his eyes, instead choosing to examine the painting on the walls. Chen sighed and flopped backwards onto his bed. He curled up and stared away from Clouse, hurt and scared and frustrated all at once.

Finally, however, he drifted off.

* * *

**Twenty-Three Years Later**

"Skylor!" Chen shouted, running into the hospital room where his daughter was laying comfortably on a hospital bed. She was sitting up, looking exhausted by happy and holding two babies. Beside her sat Kai, her husband and the father of the triplets. He was holding the third triplet.

"Are you okay, baby girl?" Chen crooned, moving to examine his daughter. Skylor had undergone an emergency cesarean after an early-stage tumor was discovered in her uterine lining. Fortunately, with modern medicinal practices and such, Skylor had survived the cancer that had taken the lives of her mother and grandmother.

"Dad, I'm fine," Skylor answered. "Just a little tired is all."

Chen spent a total of 0.02 seconds giving Kai a death glare as if it was the young man's fault that Skylor had been in pain at all. Skylor rolled her eyes, smiling as she was used to her father's antics. "Do you want to hold Lei?"

Chen stared down at the little baby as Skylor placed her in her grandfather's arms. He grinned at the child, who apparently thought this was hilarious and burst out laughing.

"Where'd you find the name?" Chen asked, tickling Lei.

"We were doing research on the Serpentine, and Pythor mentioned that a Serpentine named Lei had a flick with a human man a long time ago," Kai explained.

"She's named after her grandma," Skylor added, touching Chen's fingers the way she used to do as a baby, then as a toddler, then as a child, and even as a teen. "On her dad's side."

Chen smiled at the little baby, who giggled at him happily. Finally, after all those years of pain and horror and torture, life was good.

Kai smiled and Skylor leaned into him, both of them cradling Lei's brothers, Dante and Miles.

In the Departed Realm, Iris smiled widely, knowing that her daughter and husband had found happiness. Beside her, an anacondrai woman also smiled, knowing that her son and granddaughter were alright.

They all lived semi-happily (There was the time when the monastery burned down and the other time when Chen spilled an entire pan of noodles on the carpet, but other than that it was good) ever after.

* * *

**A/N: Okay, so I actually really, really like this. It's better than the last oneshot, for sure. Also, I've been thinking about writing a story centered around Skylor's mother… thoughts?**

**Requests are still closed. :)**


	12. Sky's the Limit

**Request: Skyrumi (Or JadeAmber, whichever you prefer) (SkylorXHarumi)**

**Requested By: Smolboi**

**Warnings: Contains PTSD/flashbacks**

**Pairings: SkylorXHarumi**

**AU: Modern AU**

**A/N: The reference in this story consists of one of the ice cream flavors (Moonlight White Chocolate) which is a reference to Elsie Primvera's children's book; **_**Ms. Rapscott's Girls.**_

***Yes, I know, this is rare for an earthquake. It's intentionally high on purpose.**

****If you're confused, check the wiki.**

**Sky's the Limit**

Skylor woke up to Harumi screaming.

Her girlfriend was sitting up straight in bed, clutching her sides in terror, tears streaming down her soft, pink cheeks. Shocked and horrified, Skylor grabbed Harumi in a hug, gripping the younger girl gently. A choked sob escaping her lips, Harumi opened her jade eyes, curling into Skylor and sniffling.

"Shhh," Skylor soothed. "It's okay, you're okay. Rumi, it's me, Skylor."

"Sky?" Harumi rasped, squirming in Skylor's grasp so she could see her girlfriend's face.

"Yes," Skylor ran a hand down Harumi's back soothingly. "I'm right here. You were having a nightmare."

"A… nightmare?" Harumi asked, still registering what happened, and snuggling tighter into Skylor. "It… wasn't real?"

"No," Skylor whispered, pressing her lips to Harumi's porcelain cheeks in a display of open affection. "It wasn't real. You're okay."

"It… felt real," Harumi sniffed, nuzzling Skylor's cheeks as a 'thank you' for the kiss. "The building… the earthquake…" She shuddered, and Skylor looped an arm around her lap and pulled her into her lap.

Years ago, when Harumi was nine years old, her parents had been killed in a building collapse caused by an earthquake. The earthquake, a 9.1***** on the Richter Scale, was nicknamed the Great Devourer after it destroyed 42 buildings and claimed over three hundred lives. Two of the victims had been Harumi's parents. The young girl had been able to climb through a laundry chute, due to her size, but her parents were not as lucky.

Even now, thirteen years later, in a steady relationship in the middle of the continent, going to college to study law, Harumi still had nightmares and horrible flashbacks.

Nuzzling Skylor's neck, Harumi closed her eyes and let tears drip onto Skylor's pajama shirt. Skylor rubbed her shoulders and cuddled her close, trying to pass on warmth to the shivering younger girl.

"You're not going to class tomorrow," Skylor instructed.

Too tired to argue, Harumi curled closer into Skylor and sighed softly. "Mmm... okay. What day is it?"

Skylor glanced and smiled at the clock, grinning from ear-to-ear. "It's the 14th." She leaned into Harumi and nuzzled her girlfriend's hair. "Happy Valentine's Day, Rumi."

Despite her nightmare, Harumi couldn't help but smile, leaning over to give Skylor a chaste peck on the lips.

Skylor responded with a soft giggle, crushing Harumi against her chest and leaning back into their bed, pulling the violet comforter over both of them. Harumi sniffed softly, then cuddled into Skylor happily, drifting back asleep, her dreams filled with roses and candlelit dinners rather than earthquakes and collapsing buildings.

* * *

When Harumi finally awoke the next morning, late for her at 8:30 in the morning, she stretched lazily, noticing Skylor's absence from their bed almost immediately. Rolling over, Harumi noticed a note laid on the side table. Picking it up, she scanned it quickly. Skylor had one class this morning and was going to pick up some groceries on the way home.

Climbing out of bed and pulling on her green robe and slippers, Harumi left the bedroom in their apartment, walking to the kitchen where she made a plate of toaster waffles. Curling up on the couch with a cheesy chick flick, Harumi let her mind wander to thoughts of Skylor.

Skylor was three years older than Harumi and had also grown up in California, although closer to the southern end of the state.

The sad truth was… Skylor had been what some would call a druggie. Born to a mother addicted to Heroin and Cocaine, she had grown up in a weird fundamentalist cult set on her father's ranch (Anacondrai Ranch) in Southern California. Her father himself had six wives and was the leader of the cult. Some of her father's 'revelations' had been a direct result of him being high or stoned. Skylor had only managed to escape to Cincinnati because one of her cousins, Kai, had managed to smuggle her out from the outside. Tragedy would soon follow as Kai's family threw her out when she refused help for her addictions.

That was where Harumi had come in.

She had been depressed, miserable, and suicidal after a boyfriend had dumped her when she found Skylor asleep in her car in the bitter cold. Soon after rescuing her would-be girlfriend from freezing to death, Skylor and Harumi had fallen in love and had been together for the past three years. Skylor had been clean and drug-free for 2 ½ of those years. Harumi sometimes worried that without Skylor, she would've died.

The door slammed, and Harumi jumped, watching as Skylor stumbled into the apartment, carrying three bags of groceries. Harumi watched her for a moment, not doing anything. Reaching out with one hand, she muted the movie, which was now rolling credits.

"Thanks for helping," Skylor teased sarcastically, moving to set the groceries down on the table. One of the bags fell over and some produce and other things fell out.

"Candles?" Harumi asked, tilting her head at the tipped bag. "Ginger, and… that's a lot of garlic!"

Skylor pulled out a box of something, then opened a drawer to grab an ice-cream scoop and spoon. "It's Valentine's Day, Rumi. Romantic dinner for two?"

Harumi giggled softly, and Skylor handed her a bowl of ice cream, the tribal-purple snake tattoo on her arm rippling softly.

"You got my favorite!" Harumi exclaimed, grinning at Skylor. "Checkerboard Moose Tracks!"

"Of course I did," Skylor answered, rooting through the cupboards and pulling out a box of rice noodles. "I also got Moonlight White Chocolate and Mango Light Dance."

Harumi couldn't help but laugh softly, grabbing the bowl of ice cream and heading back to her perch on the couch. Snuggling up under the blankets, she pulled out a DVD and turned on a Disney Movie. Frozen.

For the first half of the movie, Harumi ate her ice cream and immersed herself in the story, watching happily as Anna and Elsa played together, as Anna met Hans, and even singing along to her favorite song, _Let it Go_. Meanwhile, Skylor was busy in the kitchen, most likely doing a make-up assignment or extra credit.

Finally, however, Skylor walked into the living room, plopping down on the couch next to Harumi. She snuggled against the blonde, watching the movie with a contented expression. As the credits began to roll, Skylor stood and turned off the movie. Harumi hopped up, looking annoyed. "Hey!"

"C'mere!" Skylor answered, walking away towards the kitchen. Harumi followed her happily but stopped suddenly when she reached the doorway.

The kitchen was decorated for Valentine's Day. Pink streamers hung from the cupboards and the walls, flowers in a vase sat on the table, chocolate and candy adorned a table tastefully set for two, and even the curtains were drawn, creating a cozy atmosphere, accented by the candles on literally every surface. The food was set beautifully out, Harumi's favorite dish, garlic noodles******.

"Is… this…" She trailed off, with no idea how to process the room in front of her. "All for me?"

"It's for _us_," Skylor corrected, then made a sweeping gesture at the noodles. "What good are culinary classes if I don't use them to make meals for my girlfriend?"

"Thank you," Harumi breathed, then suddenly remembered, turning and fleeing the kitchen. "Hang on a sec' I gotta go grab…"

She trailed off, racing to the bathroom and digging through her nail polish box. Skylor had never worn nail polish, so Harumi had assumed that hiding her gift in the nail polish bin would suffice for a proper hiding spot.

Pulling out a long, rectangular box, Harumi hopped up from the floor and practically sprinted back to the kitchen, nearly running into Skylor, who was watching her with an amused expression.

"This is for you," Harumi explained, handing the box to Skylor, and smiling gently at her girlfriend. Skylor took the box from Harumi and looked at it for a moment, before smiling back at her girlfriend and opening it easily.

Inside was a gold-colored necklace with an amber teardrop affixed to it, curved in a gentle way to reflect the light as a soft orange.

Skylor stared at it in surprise, reaching out to softly touch the amber bead. "Rumi… you got this for… me?"

"Yeah," Harumi answered, laying a hand on Skylor's. "I mean, you got me earrings for Christmas, and I thought-"

"I love it," Skylor whispered, grinning at Harumi. "I _love_ it! Will you put it on for me?"

She handed the necklace to Harumi, who happily obliged, moving to fix the clasp around Skylor's soft neck. She felt Skylor's skin quiver beneath her fingers and found that she herself was trembling.

Skylor spun around, smiling at Harumi happily. "I was thinking that we eat a _romantic_ lunch, and then spend the afternoon… together."

Harumi couldn't help but grin back at Skylor. "Like together, or _together_ together." She winked at Skylor, smiling wider.

Skylor grabbed her in a hug, pressing their foreheads together and smiling so wide that her face looked as though it would split. "_Together_ together."

* * *

**A/N: Aaaannndd it's done! I actually like this pairing a whole lot. It feels like it would pair super well with greenflame… hmmm. Anyway, Happy Valentine's Day!**

**There will be no story on Sunday since it came out today instead!**

**Requests are still closed. :)**


	13. Claws, Paws, Flippers, and Feet

**Request: The Ninja Are Formlings**

**Requested by: The Dragon Witch 6813**

**Warnings: N/A**

**Pairings: Mostly platonic, Jaya friendshipping**

**AU: The Ninja are formlings**

**A/N: I took a few creative liberties here. **

**First of all, the Ninja are all the same age (around twelve), and second of all, the story does not take place in the Never-Realm. It takes place in 14th Century Ninjago, set in a ****Mongolian****-like Empire. (Eg, Yurts, plains, lots of horse-powered stuff, etc). Third of all, some dialogue and actions during the Choosing ceremonies were changed slightly.**

**Claws, Paws, Flippers, and Feet**

"It doesn't hurt, Lloyd," Misako reassured her son gently, stroking his soft, fluffy, blonde hair. She pulled a comb from one of the pockets of her leather tunic and began to brush his hair, being careful not to catch any snarls with the comb.

Twelve-year-old Lloyd laid his hand on his mother's, touching the silkiness of the comb gently beneath his fingers and stopping the movement. "Are you sure?"

Misako smiled, tucking a piece of Lloyd's hair behind his ear. "Yes, Lloyd, I'm sure." Lloyd smiled up at her anxiously, and Misako would've ruffled his hair affectionately, but caught herself just in time to avoid messing up his hair. Instead, she leaned to place a kiss on her son's head. "Run along and get dressed now, the Choosing is soon."

Lloyd nodded, then turned to throw his arms around Misako, giving his mother a giant hug. "Love you, Mom."

"I love you too, Lloyd," Misako sighed, and watched her son run to his room in their yurt, leaping up the ladder two rungs at a time. Slumping, Misako turned out of the room and towards the hill where her husband would be standing, waiting for his brother Wu to finish preparing the ceremonial paint that would be drawn on the cheeks of the children that would leave today.

Sprinting across the grasslands, Misako felt her body melt and reform, falling apart and reforming as she leapt across the flying earth, a ceremonial dance, as natural to her as breathing. Shutting her eyes for only a moment, Misako opened them to realize that she had Changed. She had Formed. She was in her second form, that of a grey desert hare, flying across the ground, sprinting towards where Garmadon was standing, sitting patiently in his second form, that of a lion.

He shook his mane as she approached, smelling her before he saw her, and turned, what could pass as a catlike smile on his face. His eyes crinkled with pleasure, and he lifted one of his massive paws, opening a space beneath his front legs for Misako to curl into if she so wished. Misako tried to smile, before remembering she was in rabbit form, and chose instead to snuggle between Garmadon's paws, her pink nose quivering silently.

_Everything alright?_ Garmadon asked, communicating with body language, ducking his head and twitching his tail.

_Well, I suppose,_ Misako leaned against Garmadon's paw, her nose quivering harder. _He's just so anxious. Are all younglings supposed to act like this?_

_Anxiety is a normal part of growing up,_ Garmadon reassured her with a gentle lick on her grey fur. _At least he's not acting like Cliff's son, panicking. That boy's still in the rafters of their Yurt, and apparently refuses to come down._ His words were accompanied by a rumbling purr of laughter.

Misako sniffed at him, standing up on her hind legs. _I suppose we should be grateful for that, though I do wish he acted like Chen's daughter. Did you see how put-together she was?_

_Yes,_ Garmadon's chest rumbled with a low growl. _Only because he scared her into it. Poor little leopard. She should be walking with them today, not last autumn. _

_What about Cyrus' daughter, Pixal? _Misako asked, placing a paw on one of Garmadon's. _He's making her wait, isn't he?_

Garmadon nuzzled her ears. _He, unlike Chen, spoke with Wu about it beforehand and they both decided it was the best idea, not to mention they actually asked Pixal what she wanted to do._

_True_. Misako added, leaning back to bump noses with Garmadon.

In the valley below them, a long, low horn blast sounded, calling the entire settlement to the Choosing. Misako's fur twitched anxiously, and Garmadon let out a low purr to calm her.

"Mom! Dad!" Lloyd ran out of their Yurt, his new hat falling off his head, and sprinted over to his parents. "Shouldn't we get going?"

Misako glanced at Garmadon and sighed, leaping away from him and re-forming into a human. "Yes, Lloyd, we do need to get going. Garmadon?"

He nodded but didn't change back. Misako knew him well enough to realize that he disliked his human form, and would rather stay a lion most of the time. Instead of pressuring him, she took Lloyd's hand in her own and looked down at the town.

It was time.

* * *

Zane was confused why all his friends were anxious.

"It's just the Choosing," He tried to explain to Cole that morning. The two of them were sitting on the wooden frame of Zane's father's yurt, side by side, with a bowl of pine nuts between them. "I don't understand. It appears to be a normal part of growing up. Why should we be nervous?"

"_Just_ the Choosing?" Cole started, turning to look at Zane incredulously, munching on a handful of pine nuts. "Zane! This is the most important event of our lives! What if we never find our forms? What if we have to leave the village? That doesn't make you even the _slightest _ bit worried!?"

Zane shrugged. "Not really, no." He picked up a pine nut, fiddling it between his pale fingers. Cole's shoulders slumped in exasperation.

"If we don't find our animal forms, Zane, we'll be thrown out!" Cole tried to explain, waving his arms around as he spoke.

"What about Chen's daughter?" Zane asked. "She was not thrown out."

"That's different," Cole argued with Zane, stomping a foot in a ridiculously childlike manner. "Chen wouldn't throw out 'Princess Perfect' if she wanted to be thrown out!"

Zane blinked slowly. "I still do not understand."

Cole took a deep breath, his chest inflating to its full capacity. He opened his mouth, no doubt to try and explain again when a long, low note sounded. It came from a traditional deep-sounding flute carved from the fangs of a massive snake. Legend had it that Garmadon, brother to the local shaman Wu, had killed the snake when he was just a child, with his bare hands nonetheless. Though not many really believed it, Garmadon had never disproved the theory, which lead to a lot more chaos surrounding it.

Zane hopped up from the porch of the yurt, smiling at Cole. "I suppose we should head to the meeting center, then?"

Cole couldn't help but chuckle. "Yup, that's our cue."

Zane on his heels, Cole walked through the dirt paths between the yurts and towards the main center, near Master Wu's main yurt. Dust flew where their feet struck the earth, and Cole shivered in the cool morning air, adjusting his white ceremonial robes, picking slightly at the black lining, before looking up, letting the golden morning light wash over him and warm him from tip to toe.

Cole sighed anxiously, stepping to the main path between the yurts, Zane standing beside him. The other four twelve-year-olds going on this year's Choosing came soon after. First, Kai and Nya, the Smith twins, came with each other to stand behind Zane. After them, Jay ran up, sliding to a stop directly behind Nya. Finally, Cole spotted the last twelve-year-old, Lloyd Garmadon, sprinting down the hills to stand in his place behind Jay.

All six of them knew what was to happen. After lining up in Age order, they would walk down a corridor created by their assembled clanmates, before Master Wu would give them their traditional face paint. Peeking around the corner of the Yurt, Cole could see the assembled villagers. They were standing with their families, waiting expectantly.

Cole inhaled deeply before he glanced back at the others. Kai rolled his eyes, almost as if to say 'get on with it'. Zane nodded, and Jay scuffed his foot anxiously against the dirt.

Cole took that as a yes, and, with a deep breath, he mustered his courage and stepped out into the open.

Drumbeats accented his footsteps as Cole lead his friends down the corridor. Cole glanced anxiously at his father, seeking approval. Cole's father, Lou, raised an eyebrow but didn't otherwise move. Cole took a deep breath and kept walking, his nerves beginning to fray.

Lou's animal form was a Lipizzaner Horse, famous for their fancy dancing abilities, and he was hoping that Cole would have the same form.

Cole didn't want to be a horse.

He wanted to be a larger, fierce animal, something that could protect Jay and Lloyd, and even Zane if the situation happened to come up (Kai and Nya would've been included too, but if anyone tried to mess with the twins, Cole was pretty sure they could've handled themselves). Taking another deep breath, Cole walked up to Master Wu, and, moving to the side, kneeled down before the tribal shamen. Out of his peripheral vision, Cole watched his friends do the same. Zane knelt on the far right, Jay squeezed between him and Cole, Kai knelt beside Cole, Lloyd knelt between Kai and Nya, who took the far left of the group.

Master Wu watched the assembled villagers with his hawkeyed glare, before turning to observe the six children gathered in front of him. He smiled softly, the edges of his eyes crinkling into crow's feet.

He raised a hand, and the drumbeats halted. The entire village held its breath as he dipped his fingers in a sacred bowl of face stain. Starting at Zane, Master Wu painted on the traditional symbols that would guide the children to their animal forms. Zane was given two massive circles that each ran parallel to his jawbones, as well as rings around his eyes. Next, Wu drew a line across Jay's nose, and connected his eyes, as if he were wearing a weird pair of spectacles. Cole closed his eyes when Wu painted on his face, feeling the paint on his brows and forehead, outlining his face. Peeking, he watched Kai receive stripes across his jaws, Lloyd get two stripes around his eyes and trailing his cheekbones, and Nya receive a circle near her mouth.

Finally, Wu pulled away, and smiled at all six of them, raising his hands to the sky in prayer. "Great spirits of the past, Father of our World, I ask that you guide these younglings to their animal forms. We will choose to care for them and watch over them, all we ask is this simple task."

The wind blew softly, rustling the grass and tousling Cole's hair. Everyone looked up, amazed at Wu's ability. Ever since the master was young, he had the natural ability to call the spirits.

Cole stood up, straightening his back and watched his friends do the same. Kai and Nya smiled at their parents, who both looked immensely proud. Jay's father, Cliff, smiled at him, and Zane's father looked happy. Even Lloyd's parents were puffed up with pride for their son, but as Cole looked to his father, expecting the same treatment, Lou looked away, apparently frustrated.

"Chosen," Wu addressed the group as a whole, and Cole turned to watch the old man as he gave them orders. "The Choosing must pass in silence. You will journey west, and only when all six of you have found your animal forms may your return."

"What if we never find our animal forms?" Jay asked, looking anxious as usual.

"We will cross that bridge when we come to it," Wu answered with a slight shake of his head. "It does not matter at the moment, Jay."

Jay ducked his head but didn't say anything. Cole shot him a smile, hoping Jay wouldn't take this too harshly. Master Wu looked over all six of them before pointing to a section of the crowd, who parted instantly, understanding the command.

"Go and find your future," Wu instructed, motioning to the pathway created by the parted crowd. Cole went first, walking through the crowd and pausing at the end, where his father handed him a scythe, the kind of weapon Cole grew up using. Cole smiled anxiously at his dad, and, to his surprise, Lou smiled back.

The rest of Cole's friends soon followed, each of them being given weapons, packs, sleeping bags, bedrolls, and the likes. Lloyd was even given a tiny cat-claw amulet by his father, the kind of trinket that was said to ward off evil spirits known as Oni.

The Choosing must pass in silence, so they did not speak. Together, they traveled, for many days, they headed west, searching for the signs that would lead them to their animal forms, before Lloyd found a lush valley, the kind of place where camping was easy. Together, they settled down for the night. Cole stared up at the stars for a long, long time, Zane beside him, both watching the sky silently. Cole offered Zane a hand, which he graciously took, but before long, Cole found he had drifted off into a deep, deep sleep, leaving Zane to face the night by himself.

* * *

_Zane._ A voice called.

Zane sat up, gasping for breath, the call still echoing in his ears. He looked around, confused. He must've fallen asleep at some point because the moon was directly above him. Beside him, on the ground, lay his shurikens, but beyond his sleeping bag, little else remained.

Zane stood up anxiously, looking around. His friends weren't there, and it appeared they had never been there in the first place. Zane shuddered. Had he simply hallucinated the whole thing?

Shaking his head, Zane looked around for the source of the voice, but all he found was a falcon sitting on a branch of a tree that had _definitely_ not been there before. Zane started, before staring up at the bird.

_Zane_.

There it was again. The voice. Zane smiled at the falcon, who chirped happily. Zane stepped to the side, and the falcon hopped twice. Zane dropped his shurikens and waved his arms. The falcon waved his wings, hopping from foot to foot.

"You… danced… for me?" Zane asked the bird, who chirped again, but leaped off the branch and soared across the plains.

With no time to grab his shurikens, Zane took off after the bird, running along the cool ground and following the falcon to a dense forest.

The falcon perched on the ground and chirped at Zane, who stared into the woods for a long moment. "You want me to… go in there?"

The falcon chirped again, hopping towards the woods before turning to look at Zane. Zane took a deep breath and entered the forest. Breathing deeply, he crept through the forest, avoiding thorns and twigs, before he emerged into a snow-white clearing.

The falcon fluttered up to a central part of the clearing, a massive, grey-barked birch tree. There it perched, calling to Zane with chirps and squeaks. Zane took a few steps forward, approaching the tree, where he reached out and stared at it for a long time.

Finally, he brushed his fingers against the powdery bark of the tree.

Immediately, the falcon screeched and leapt from its branch, shooting down, straight at Zane, but he wasn't scared. Something deep inside him told him that this was fine, that the falcon wasn't going to hurt him. With a sudden blast of freezing air, the falcon collided with Zane, and everything went white-

* * *

Snuff… snuff… sniffle… SNORT!

Jay jolted awake to see an otter sitting on his chest. The otter stared at him for a few seconds, looking offended, before it hopped off him and ran off.

"Hey!" Jay shouted, scrambling out of bed and after the creature. "Are you my form? Is this my sign?"

The otter turned and glared at him before it shot off into the grass like a rocket.

"Wait!" Jay ran after it before a squawk attracted his attention. Looking up, he was suddenly shocked as a blue jay flapped over to sit on his head. It trilled happily, before pecking Jay's head. "OW!" Jay shouted, swatting the bird. "You better not be my form!"

The blue jay made a laughing noise, and Jay pouted, sitting on the ground. He let his hands fall to the dust beside him, and let out a big breath.

The blue jay hopped off Jay's head and moved to sit in the dirt next to him. Jay looked away, trying to ignore the bird. The blue jay trilled, but Jay ignored it.

Almost apologetically, the little bird nudged Jay's hand with its beak, nosing its way beneath the boy's warm palm.

Jay ignored the bird, looking away.

The blue jay nipped his hand incessantly, asking for attention. Jay looked down at it, stroking the small creature's soft feathers. "Hey, don't bite me."

The bird chirped but continued relaxing in the attention that Jay had given it. It made a purling noise, happy to be with Jay.

A screech interrupted the quiet scene, and Jay leapt up, scared and surprised. "That sounded like an animal!" The blue jay chirped in response, and Jay saw a few words form in front of his eyes, written in pale blue ink. _The otter?_

"Um… yeah," Jay answered, looking at the bird, who was sitting on his shoulders, looking for attention. He stared at it. "Was that you?"

_Yes_. The bird answered, chirping at Jay.

Jay was about to ask the billions of questions that were shooting through his head when another screech echoed from the grasses. Jay took off towards the sound, his feet pounding the earth beneath him and the grass brushing the edges of his rawhide boots.

Sliding into place, Jay froze when he saw the otter from earlier facing off against a fierce adder, the snake hissing and striking at the scared mammal.

"Hang on, otter," Jay called, grabbing a stick and stabbing at the adder, who hissed in return. The blue jay called, swooping at the snake's eyes, and finally, the snake retreated, slithering away through the grasslands. Jay knelt beside the otter, who mewled at him softly.

Words, this time in maroon, appeared in his vision. _Thank you, Jay._

"You're welcome," Jay answered, looking up at the bird he had befriended. Suddenly, the creature called out, then swooped towards Jay at an immense speed, knocking him backwards and into a world that was all blue-

* * *

Cole trudged across the prairie. Even though he had fallen asleep and was apparently asleep soundly, he was somehow here for… well, for some reason.

Cole stared up at the moon, which was high in the sky, lighting his path as he crossed the savannas. Looking around, he was glad that there were no horses in sight. It wasn't that Cole hated them, he just didn't want to spend the rest of his life dancing around like a real-life my little pony.

A huffing noise from behind scared him, and Cole spun around only to come face-to-face with a mountain gorilla. He narrowly avoided screaming, instead choosing to stare anxiously at the big creature, his heart pounding against his ribcage.

The gorilla huffed at him, then turned and lifted one large hand, curling its fingers slowly and pointing to a distant figure. Cole squinted. It looked like… a horse? In fact, it looked like his dad's animal form.

"That's odd," Cole said out loud, and the gorilla looked at him with a snort. "I mean, it looks like my dad, but he's back at the village."

The gorilla huffed again, and Cole turned back to the horse when he realized it was running away, panicking. Squinting, Cole was horrified when he saw a pack of coyotes chasing his father, and he broke out into a run, the gorilla following him as they sprinted towards Lou's panicked form.

"DAD!" Cole shouted, sprinting faster, gasping for breath as the cold air stung his throat. Nearly tripping over himself, Cole managed to grab a boulder, and mustering his strength, he tossed it forward, crushing the leader of the coyotes. The others barked at him, but he picked up another rock and glared back threateningly.

As soon as the coyotes fled, Cole approached his father, who, gasping for breath, changed back into his human form.

"Cole?" He gasped. "Is that you?"

"Yeah, dad," Cole answered. "It's me. Are you alright?"

To his shock, Lou began to cry softly, tears dripping down his cheeks and coloring his clothing. "Cole, I'm so, sorry. Your mother… your mother should've been with you… I wasn't ever good enough…" He coughed, crying even more.

"Dad," Cole approached his father. "I… I'm sorry, I guess. But what are you… talking about."

Lou sniffed, avoiding Cole's eyes. "You were so little, but your mother died, and you never seemed to like me, Cole. I always tried so hard to be a good father, but I never knew what to do. I'm sorry for being so distant, Cole."

"Dad," Cole reached a hand out to his father. "Dad, I love you. I thought you hated me for not liking dancing."

"It disappointed me," Lou admitted. "But nothing could ever make me hate _my _son."

Cole smiled, touched, then Lou pulled him into a hug.

Finally, when Cole pulled away, Lou pointed to something over his shoulder. "Your friend wants something."

"My- oh," Cole turned around to look at the gorilla, who stepped forward to him, huffing happily. "What do you need?"

The gorilla huffed again, then grabbed Cole into a hug, squeezing him tightly, all of a sudden, to Cole's surprise, the world faded to black-

* * *

It was hot.

Not summer day hot, where the sun beats down on you, and not jungle hot, where you sweat like crazy, no. It was _hot_. Fire hot. Dry hot. Absolutely miserably hot.

When Kai opened his eyes, he was standing on a small ledge above a massive pool of lava. Beside him stood a beautiful tiger, it's fur on fire but not burning up.

"Where are we?" Kai asked the tiger, who blinked at him as if to say, 'How should I know? You're the human in this situation!'

Kai rolled his eyes at the sassy tiger, then glanced around. Across the cavern of the volcano, Kai could see an opening, and beyond that, blue velvet sky and even speckled stars. Huh. This was going to be easy. All he had to do was cross the cavern. Easy. He would probably be the first to find his animal form!

Carefully pressing his back to the wall, Kai stepped along a hair-thin ledge along the side of the wall. Sliding along, he was careful not to fall into the boiling lava. The tiger followed him curiously, creeping along just like Kai. Kai grinned. Ten feet, then he'd be at the door and he'd be free! He'd have his animal form first!

A frightened mewl caught Kai's attention, and he froze, looking around for the source of the cry of terror. His eyes darting around, he finally caught sight of the source of the fear.

Sitting on a rock in the middle of the lava, was a golden retriever puppy. Kai stared at it for a long moment, before he glanced back at the opening. Ten feet. He looked back at the puppy, who cried out again. It was so scared. Kai took a deep breath, then surveyed the situation. If he jumped, he could probably make it to the puppy, but then how would he get out?

"It's too risky," He told himself quietly, but the tiger growled at him, and Kai suddenly saw Lloyd in the same position, and his heart clenched. He couldn't let the puppy die. Making up his mind, Kai tensed, then leapt to the rock.

The puppy flinched, then barked at him happily, wagging its tail. Kai brushed spare pebbles off of his stinging hands, picking up the puppy, and surveying the area again. Taking into consideration, he leapt to another rock, then, using a stalactite as a footrest, he bounced against a final rock and leaped towards the ledge near the door, clinging to the puppy with one hand.

Halfway through, however, Kai realized his fatal mistake. He had mistimed the jump. He wasn't going to make it. Just as his fingers missed the ledge by less than an inch, a massive paw shot out and grabbed his hand, pulling Kai away from the lava and up into the open air.

"Thanks," Kai answered, before looking down at the puppy, who wriggled happily and licked his fingers. "It's okay, little guy, I got you."

The puppy barked, and the tiger loomed down on Kai before everything went red-

* * *

Lloyd woke up.

Something was pulling on the edge of his sleeve. Something big. Opening his eyes tentatively, Lloyd looked over at his arm to see the creature pulling his sleeve, it was… a dog?

The dog barked happily, before tugging on Lloyd's sleeve again, wagging its golden tail, fur flying everywhere. Lloyd climbed out of his sleeping bag, reaching over to pat the dog's furry head.

With a happy bark, the dog licked Lloyd's fingers, before grabbing his sleeve and tugging him towards a mountain that had definitely not been there when Lloyd fell asleep.

"You want me to follow you?" Lloyd asked.

The dog barked, wagging its tail and jumping into a happy play-bow. Lloyd laughed, and followed the dog, walking across the cool prairie to the massive mountain. Pausing at the base, Lloyd stared up at the mountain's towering height, confused.

"Am I supposed to climb that?" He asked, looking at the dog.

The dog barked again, grabbing the branch of a tree in its mouth and pulling it away to reveal a cave opening yawning like a monster's black maw. Lloyd shuddered just looking at the darkness before he took a deep breath and stepped forward. "You want me to go _in there?_"

The dog tilted its head, then immediately trotted straight into the dark cave.

"WAIT!" Lloyd ran after the dog, darting into the darkness. He stumbled on some unseen gravel, before finding a wall and laying his hand on it, walking through the darkness carefully as not to trip again.

A chilly breeze ruffled Lloyd's blonde hair, and water dripped somewhere in the distance. Lloyd breathed in deeply, using a coping mechanism for anxiety that Jay had taught him. Breathing deeply, Lloyd looked around the chilly, dark cave and shivered. Beside him, somewhere, the dog barked, and Lloyd jumped as it echoed around him.

Just as the dog barked, its tail began to light up with soft green energy, soon lighting the cave around them. Lloyd blinked frantically, his eyes adjusting to the light as he observed the cavern. It was small and dim, lit only by the dog's energy.

Water dripped off a nearby stalactite, landing on the floor. Lloyd turned around and started suddenly. On the wall his hand had rested on was a simplistic cave painting.

In the center of the wall, the sole focus of the art sat a furry dog, it's golden fur nearly invisible against the beige walls of the cavern. Lloyd stared for a second before he realized it was an exact copy of the dog beside him, and he reached out to touch the painting. The dog barked excitedly, and as Lloyd stroked the rough walls, a green ball of energy lit the painted dog's tail. Lloyd smiled slightly, as the green light expanded, bringing more figures into view.

Besides the dog, to the left, was a red tiger, painted to be on fire as it glittered against the wall. On the right, a brawny black gorilla stood proudly, gazing off the painting with a contented look. Above the dog, a blue jay flew across the painting quickly, surrounded by lightning bolts. Below the dog, a falcon perched silently, snow falling all around it.

"Is this… my destiny?" Lloyd asked the dog, who barked happily, wagging its tail. Lloyd stared at it for a moment, before kneeling next to the dog. "You're my animal form, aren't you?"

The dog barked, then leaped up, jumping towards Lloyd just as the world went green-

* * *

Nya floundered when she realized where she was.

Panicking, she looked around, murky river water causing her eyes to sting. Her feet kicked up silt from the riverbank, staining the water brown as she floundered in the cold water.

A purr resounded from one of her ears, and Nya looked to the side to see a chocolate brown river otter in the water, swimming beside her, pulling on her hair.

Nya looked at it before it pointed upwards. Oh. Upwards. To the surface. Nya nodded her thanks before she pushed off the riverbank, swimming up towards the light above her.

Just as she broke the surface, Nya took a deep breath, gasping as she treaded water. The otter swam to her, booping her nose with its own wet, whiskery snout. Nya coughed. "Thanks."

The otter chirped, before squeaking in fear and diving down again, out of sight. Nya tilted her head. "Where are you-"

Before she could finish her sentence, a cold, slimy tentacle grabbed her foot and jerked her underwater, deep into the freezing depths.

Nya panicked, twisting violently as she was dragged further from the surface. Squirting in the creature's hold, she grabbed the tentacle and pulled at it, thrashing. The otter swam to her side, then darted along the tentacle, shooting down to the base, where a massive green and black octopus was gripping Nya's leg. It was a she, and she was hideous, taller than Nya, with an evil glowing green eye.

She reminded Nya of the river octopi that lived near her family's home. Wu's son, Moro, had fallen in one day and was supposedly drowned by one of them. Trembling slightly at the memory, Nya smacked the tentacle again, reaching into her pockets for anything useful.

She pulled out a knife, and threw it forward, aiming for the creature's eyes.

To her horror, the knife slipped through the water and landed in the sand. Internally screaming, Nya reached for it, but the octopus pulled her closer, opening it's fanged maw as she panicked. The otter noticed her plight and shot downward, grabbing the knife in its paws and swimming to Nya's side, placing the weapon in her outstretched hand.

Nya spun around, slicing the knife through the water and jabbing it into the octopus' green eye. Blood spurted out, turning the water brackish, but Nya didn't stop, instead jabbing the knife further, drawing another spurt of blood before the octopus stopped thrashing and went limp, freeing her foot.

Lungs burning and eyes watering from the brackish bloody brine, Nya kicked against the water and shot upwards, bursting from the water in a wet spray. Gasping for breath, she treaded against the current at the surface, breathing heavily.

The otter swam up to her, swimming around her legs and making a soft purr-like noise. Nya reached out and stroked the creature, but when she did, her entire world turned to a lovely shade of grey-

* * *

Zane shot through the cloudless blue sky, wind stroking his silver feathers as he dove through the crisp morning, the Choosing still fresh in his mind.

Flapping upwards, Zane soared through the morning light, playing along the air currents. Looking downwards, his sharp eyes caught sight of… a blue jay?

Zane watched the jay for a few moments, his hawk eyes missing none of the tiny bird's movements.

Twisting in the air, Zane turned to a dive, shooting downwards towards the blue jay silently. His heart soared. His first hunt in animal form! His father would be proud.

The blue jay looked up and let out a frightened squawk just as Zane caught it in his talons, crashing towards the earth.

The blue jay writhed for a few seconds, before it suddenly became, much, much heavier. Zane beat his wings, panicking, as he plummeted to the earth, landing on the ground next to, not a blue jay, but a boy. Not just a boy, either, but... _Jay_?

"Ow!" Jay snapped, rubbing his arms. "Don't attack me like that you evil little- ZANE!?" Jay cut himself off as Zane transformed back into his human form.

"Yes," Zane answered with a nod. "I am sorry I attacked you."

"You're a falcon?" Jay asked, tilting his head in a birdlike manner. "That's so cool!"

"And you're a blue jay," Zane commented. "It... matches your name!"

"I know, right?" Jay giggled, hopping to his feet. "I wonder if any of the others found their forms yet!"

Just as he said that the hulking figure of a great ape appeared on the horizon, sprinting to them. Both boys took to the air, hovering above the gorilla as it slowed to a stop on the grass, skidding forward and looking around. The gorilla quickly turned into their friend, Cole, and he looked around for a while, confused.

"Guys?" He asked, glancing around. "Jay? Zane?"

Jay swooped down, landing and changing back to human form as he stared at Cole with a grin. "Cole!"

"JAY!" Cole ran forward, grinning, as Zane came to land with his friends. Cole grabbed them both in brief hug, being careful not to accidentally crush ribs with his newfound gorilla strength.

"You're a gorilla?" Jay asked, looking at Cole's hat with a smile.

"Well, yeah," Cole answered. "You're a blue jay, right? And... what are you, Zane?"

"A falcon," Zane answered with a nod, smiling at his friends.

"Does this mean I can call you 'monkey butt'?" Jay asked Cole, grinning mischievously.

"Only if I can call _you_ 'birdbrain'!" Cole answered, flicking Jay's shoulder playfully.

Jay flinched and rubbed his shoulder, his smile turning sour. "Cole, get that gorilla strength under control, will you!"

"Well, I'm _sorry_!" Cole snapped. "We're not all birds here, are we!"

"I'm not a bird," a voice behind them commented, and all three boys spun around to discover the owner of the voice sitting on a boulder happily.

"Lloyd," Zane exclaimed when he saw the other boy. "How long have you been sitting there?"

"A while," Lloyd answered, hopping off his boulder. "Long enough to know you're a falcon, Jay's a birdbrain, and Cole's a monkey butt."

"HEY!" Cole and Jay shouted simultaneously, rushing forward to grab Lloyd.

"I'm just kidding, guys," Lloyd said with a laugh. "I'm a dog, by the way."

"Huh," Cole stopped for a second. "I always thought you'd be a lion, like your dad."

Lloyd shrugged. "Yeah, me too, I guess. It looks like destiny had other plans."

"Do you guys believe in destiny?" Zane asked. "Is that how we find our animal forms?"

"I think that destiny is written by a bunch of twelve-year-olds sitting on clouds with scrolls. Of course, destiny's not real, Zane," Jay answered, folding his arms.

"Hey, have any of you seen Kai or Nya?" Lloyd asked, looking at the other three boys.

"I'm right here," Kai answered, stepping out from behind Cole and making him jump. "And I'm a tiger, by the way."

"Neat," Lloyd laughed.

A figure jogged up to them from next to Jay, her hair still soaked from the water of the river. Nya slid into place beside Jay, observing her friends.

"Hi, Nya," Cole shrugged at his friend. "What animal are you?"

"An otter," Nya answered with a grin. Jay started suddenly, although no one knew why.

"Are you... okay?" Nya asked him.

"Uh, yeah... heh," Jay laughed nervously. "I'm fine."

Everyone looked at Jay for a long moment before going back to the conversation, laughing and joking around with each other.

The next few days were amazing. The six of them explored together, played together, Kai and Cole practiced fighting in their animal forms, Jay and Nya raced one another across the sky and river, and Zane and Lloyd watched birds and hunted mice.

At night they relaxed, sleeping beside one another in the cool air.

One day, however, Kai woke to realize something. His hear hurt. He asked Cole about it, who admitted he felt the same way. When they consulted their friends, each revealed that they all felt like that.

It could only mean one thing.

It was time to go home.

* * *

"And, there," Skylor tethered her horse to a hitching post outside the village, then turned over to look at Pixal, who was doing the same. "That was fun, we should do it again sometime."

Pixal nodded. "I have to agree, it was quite enjoyable."

As the two girls turned towards the village, Skylor turned to Pixal again. "You decided not to find your animal form yet, huh?"

Pixal shrugged. "It did not feel like the appropriate time. I am glad you found yours, however."

"Thanks," Skylor answered. "It was really bad, though. My dad wanted me to go on my Choosing all by myself, just to get my animal form, but I think I turned out okay."

"You did," Pixal commented. "I am excited to find my own form. Perhaps next fall?"

"Yeah, I think you could make it," Skylor answered, looking behind Pixal at the ridge that overlooked their village. "Hey, does that look like... Cole to you?"

Pixal followed her hand, squinting. "Yes, it does. Do you think..."

Skylor grinned, watching the Chosen descend the hill into the village. "They're back!"

* * *

**A/N: A quick explanation of all the Ninja's animal forms:**

**Cole - Gorilla. I originally wanted him to be a bear, but after scrolling through an online library, I realized that he may be better off as a great ape.**

**Jay - Blue Jay. This one is kind of self-explanatory.**

**Zane - Falcon. I chose this one based on Season 1, and if Pixal had an animal form, she would be a Snowy Owl**

**Kai - Tiger. Ever heard of the poem, "Tiger, Tiger burning bright,"?**

**Lloyd - Golden Retriever. After reading Gwenbrightly's 'Of Milk and Cookies' I can safely say Lloyd is a dog. To paraphrase Nya in 'Of Milk and Cookies': You have the fluffiest golden hair I've ever seen, and you are incredibly loyal.**

**Nya - Otter. I stumbled upon Hermione's Patronus whilst snooping in the Harry Potter Wiki. It seemed to fit.**

**Misako - Desert Hare. It seemed to fit. Origionally she was going to be a bird, but I scrapped the idea.**

**Garmadon - Lion. Wu is a dragon, but I wanted to go with something else for Garmadon.**

**Skylor (Mentioned, never seen) - Clouded leopard.**

**Lou - Lipizzaner Horse. These horses are known for their 'Dancing' Especially at the Vienna Riding School in Austria.**

* * *

**Also, I am so sorry this wasn't out sooner, but I hope you liked it!**

**Update 3/3/20: Hey guy's, I'm not dead, I just wanted everyone to know that my upload schedule will be changing soon. I will only upload Oneshots once every two weeks, but it should go back to normal in June. Thanks, **

**CheezPretzel**

**PS: Next update, 3/11/20**


	14. Fairy Tales

**Request: Something with Harumi. Also fairies**

**Requested By: ThreeAM (Guest)**

**Warnings: None**

**AU: All the Ninja are fairies who live in Harumi's garden.**

**A/N: Wait, Cheez, you said the next update would be on Wednesday! Well, I lied. Sort of. I decided that, since the updates will only be every other week, might as well keep the old schedule, right? Anyway, on with the story!**

**Fairy Tales:**

It was a wonderful spring morning, the day after Easter. On a warm farm in New England, a young girl, with blonde hair and her furry black cat, who was missing an eye, wandered through a vibrant garden. Puffy white clouds raced across the blue sky, the grass was a brilliant shade of green, and everything felt right in the world, except-

"Hutchens, NO!" Harumi cried, swooping in to stop her cat from killing a baby bird that had fallen from its nest. She scooped up the cat and stared at it sternly. "How many times do I have to tell you not to eat small animals!"

Hutchens stared at her blankly. Harumi sighed. "You have to stay in the barn so I can go horseback riding. Remember: no more baby birds!"

The cat mewled and squirmed as Harumi carried him out of the garden and towards the barn that was a little while away from her home in New England.

As she walked away, however, a voice from a bush could be heard. "Baby birds… hmmm…"

* * *

Lloyd pulled his face out from behind a leaf and turned back to his friends, folding his green luna moth wings.

"Well?" Kai asked. He was taller than Lloyd, with dragonfly wings and was wearing a Ninja gi made from rose petals. He stared at Lloyd for a moment.

"Guys…" Lloyd looked up at all his friends. Nya was standing directly behind Kai, her ladybug wings neatly folded across her back. Above her, Jay was hovering in the air, his massive blue wings keeping him aloft. Zane was also flying next to Jay in a peaceful manner. Cole was perched on a branch behind Zane, his cricket wings half-open. Lloyd grinned. "I know what we're gonna do today."

* * *

Harumi stumbled back into the garden an hour later, rubbing her sore tailbone. Horseback riding had _not_ gone as planned. Grumping through the gravel pathways of the garden, Harumi watched as Hutchins trotted in front of her, sniffing the air with his little pink nose.

"CHEEP!" Harumi froze. She could've sworn she heard someone yell 'cheep'…

When nothing happened, she shrugged and kept walking. Probably just a bird or… the wind… Harumi shuddered violently, then picked up her pace, walking through the gardens at more than just a leisurely stroll. Her hair stood on end, and she shivered in the April light.

Someone must be watching her.

Harumi broke into a run, sprinting towards the house, feet pounding against the creamy white gravel pathways as she flew to-

"AAAAAHHHH!"

A scream made Harumi freeze, skidding a few feet and gasping for breath. She looked around. The garden was empty. Harumi bit her lip, wondering if she'd imagined it when she realized Hutchins was missing.

THE BIRDS!

Harumi whirled around, racing across the pathways and over flowerbeds until she found Hutchens, pinning a small creature down with his paws and meowing with delight at the kill.

She dove towards the feline, grabbing him and scooping him up, before dropping him in a Magnolia Bush. Hutchens yowled in protest, but Harumi ignored him, instead choosing to observe the little creature that had been caught in her cat's claws.

He was small, about the size of a pencil, with pale skin, bright blonde hair, and green luna moth wings. He didn't look up at her, instead curling into a ball and trembling, making these horrible little whimpery noises. The creature also appeared to be covered in what looked like…. Feathers? No… those were paper feathers. Very poorly created paper feathers.

Harumi poked the creature in the back gently, and he whimpered, covering his eyes. Harumi's brow furrowed. The poor little guy was scared.

She scooted back a bit, but still leaned over him, observing his minuscule limbs and silken wings. He peeked at her, still trembling, then squeezed his eyes tighter. Harumi smiled slightly, before leaning closer to him. "Are you a fairy?"

The little creature moved his fingers to peek at her again. "Um… yes. Why?"

"I don't think I've ever seen a fairy before," Harumi commented, glad that he was actually talking to her rather than cowering in fear. "I didn't know you were real."

He fiddled with the edge of his green ninja gi, which appeared to be made of mint leaves, and sat up, still watching her anxiously. "Most humans don't. Adults usually can't see us."

"Us?" Harumi asked, "There are more of you."

"Oh, I meant me, heh," The fairy smiled nervously. "Yeah. If any adults see us, they'll probably wonder why you're talking to a moth."

"Okay," Harumi decided to let the subject drop, watching as the fairy air his green wings. "What's your name? Maybe Luna, like your wings, or Mint, like your gi?"

The fairy stared at her for a long moment before bursting into a peal of laughter that was unlike any sound Harumi had ever heard. Most compared a fairy's laughter to bells, but this was distinctly _not_ bells.

"What?" Harumi asked, leaning forward. "What's so funny?"

The fairy wiped a tear from his eyes and hopped forward breezily. "I've never met a fairy named after plants." He grinned. "My name's Lloyd."

"Lloyd," Harumi nodded, liking the graceful way the word slipped off her tongue. "I'm Harumi."

Lloyd smiled. "I know. We- ahem- I, live in your garden, after all."

"How come I've never seen you before?" Harumi asked. "I think I would've noticed fairies in my garden."

Lloyd kicked a grain of sand the way a human would kick a pebble. "Oh… we - um - I, didn't always live here."

"Where'd you live before?" Harumi asked, curious as to where the fairy and his unmentioned companions had come from.

Lloyd pointed to the west, towards Chen's Manor, a massive building that towered over the serene countryside. Chen was known for his erratic tendencies, though Harumi had never met him personally, as he was usually holed up inside the mansion. Her mother told her that it was because Master Chen was sad after his wife died. Her father had whispered it was because he was practicing witchcraft. Harumi didn't know the truth, but if this fairy had lived there before, maybe he could tell her.

"You lived at Chen's Manor?" Harumi asked, following the line created by Lloyd's doll-like finger.

"Yeah," Lloyd answered, malice seeping through his voice. "Whatever they tell you about him, he's evil! He kept us - uh - me prisoner in his courtyard garden with a whole bunch of other fairies so he could extract our magic for his own purposes. He even killed one of us… the guy was named Jacob, fed to a snake." Lloyd shuddered heavily. "A couple others, even the first fairy he'd gotten (she was mostly loyal to him) helped to sneak us - er - me out."

Harumi stared at him, shock creeping into her heart. "That's horrible."

Lloyd nodded but flew up to perch on her hands. "I was super little, so I don't remember it very well."

"Still," Harumi trailed off. "That must've been awful."

Lloyd nodded slightly, placing one of his hands gently on Harumi's thumb, either to soothe her or to steady himself. He wiped a tear off his cheek and sat down with a thud. Harumi tilted her hand, cradling his crying form.

"You can fly, can't you?" She asked, desperate to change the subject.

He sniffed, nodding slightly.

"Then… how'd you get caught by my cat?" Harumi asked again, watching him quietly.

"Oh, um," Lloyd let out an awkward laugh. "Funny story, when I heard you yelling at the cat over eating baby birds, see, my friends and I decided to teach the cat a… um… lesson?" it came out as more of a sentence, and Lloyd smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck.

Harumi couldn't stifle a snicker, so she full out-laughed. "_That's_ what you were doing?"

"Um, yes?" Lloyd looked up at her, blushing and beating his wings softly.

Harumi took a breath, then stopped all of a sudden. "Wait. You said 'friends'. There are more of you, aren't there."

"I guess I can't exactly keep them a secret anymore, now can I?" Lloyd asked, looking at her nervously before he turned in the palm of her hand and looked out over a flowerbed. "It's okay, guys, you can come out now!"

Harumi waited for a few moments, her eyes scanning the surrounding area expectantly. Lloyd patted her thumb. "They can be a bit shy sometimes."

"More like wary of humans," another voice cut in, and Harumi gasped when she realized who had spoken. This fairy was slightly taller than Lloyd, with jet-black hair and dark brown eyes. She had bronze-tan skin and was wearing a gi made of Azalea petals. She glared at Lloyd in an older-sister fashion, folding her arms across her chest. "Lloyd, just _what_ are you doing?"

Lloyd hopped down from Harumi's hands and landed next to the girl fairy. He motioned to Harumi. "Nya, this is Harumi. Harumi, this is Nya."

Nya held out a hand, and Harumi resorted to giving her the tip of an index finger to shake. "Pleased to meet you, Nya."

"Hmm," Nya stared at her suspiciously. "Yeah… I guess." She turned towards the hydrangea bushes. "You guys can come out," She offered.

When nothing happened, Nya rolled her eyes. "GET YOUR BUTTS OUT HERE!"

Four fairies, all male, scurried out from their hiding spots and stood near Nya, in front of Harumi. One was wearing a red rose-petal gi, one was dressed in white tulip petals, next to them stood one in blue bellflowers, and beside him stood the last one, dressed neatly in the red-tipped feathers of a chocolate sunflower.

"Sheesh, you don't have to _shout_," The one dressed in red grumbled.

Nya growled. "Yes, Kai, I do, because otherwise, none of you get the point!"

Harumi giggled slightly at the fairy drama that played out in front of her. The other three fairies watched her, fascinated until Lloyd went and introduced them.

He started with the red one, "Harumi, these are my brothers. This is Kai." He stepped to the next one, in white. "Zane," Beside him, in blue. "Jay", and next to him, last of all, "Cole."

"Pleased to meet you all," Harumi smiled, watching the fairies walk and move around. They were so cool! "Oh gosh, wait until mom and dad hear about this!"

Nya pulled her family into a huddle. "Guys, we can't let her know about this."

"Why not!" Lloyd exclaimed. "She won't do any harm!"

"What if she ends up like Chen?" Cole interjected anxiously.

All six fairies shuddered.

"Okay, let's vote then," Nya decided. "All in favor of letting Harumi know about us, raise your hands." Lloyd raised his hand and was pleased to see Kai's hand up as well. Nya sighed. "All in favor of making Harumi forget?" She raised her own hand, as did, unfortunately, Zane, Cole, and Jay. "It's settled then," Nya decided, her tone final. "Kai, Cole, get your pixie dust. Zane, Jay, Lloyd, come with me."

"Wait, where are we going?" Jay asked, beating his blue wings loftily.

"Once Cole and Kai use their sleeping powder, we've got to catch Harumi before she falls and hits her head," Nya answered, taking a flying leap off the ground towards Harumi. She hovered in front of the girl, Jay going near a shoulder, across from Zane, and Lloyd zipping around to Harumi's head.

Harumi smiled at Nya. "What are you guys-"

She never finished. Cole and Kai both tossed handfuls of sleeping powder, it exploded across Harumi's face, it's yellow pollen color staining her cheeks. Harumi looked surprised, then sneezed, before her eyes rolled back and she collapsed. Jay and Zane were ready, grabbing her shoulders and easing her to the ground. Nya flitted about, rearranging the girl's legs and arms. Though fairies were small, they were incredibly strong, so moving a human girl was not difficult, but a little awkward.

Lloyd helped ease Harumi's head to the ground, placing her soft cheeks gently against the gravel, and tilting her head so she wouldn't breathe in too much dust. He smiled slightly but sadly before he took off and came back with a handful of mint leaves.

"Lloyd," Zane cut in, flying to his brother's side as he landed next to Harumi's clenched hand.

"What, Zane?" Lloyd asked, looking at his friend, confusion and sadness in his eyes.

Zane sighed. "Don't make this harder than it needs to be."

Lloyd ignored him, opening one of Harumi's hands and quickly folding the mint leaf into the shape of a dragon and gently kissing it before he placed it in Harumi's hand.

A fairy's kiss was magical, of course. The mint dragon would never wilt, never rot, and would never be able to be torn or crushed. Lloyd hoped she would enjoy it.

Kai approached him, taking his hand, and the two fairies followed their friends into the tall branches of a mulberry tree.

There, in the hollow they called home, Lloyd watched, just to make sure Harumi got inside okay.

Protecting children, after all, was what a fairy's magic was for.

* * *

When Harumi's mother found her unconscious in the garden, she fled to the girl's side, accidentally kicking Hutchens, who yowled in protest.

"Dratted cat," She grumbled, kneeling beside Harumi and shaking the girl gently. "Harumi. Harumi! Wake up! Are you ill!?"

Harumi opened an eye, then let out a leisurely yawn. "Oh mother, I had the most wonderful dream about fairies."

Inside the hydrangea bushes, a tiny voice giggled mischievously.

And that was the end of that.

* * *

**A/N: Aaaaaand… CUT! It's a wrap! Ah, it's so good to be writing for this fandom again. It's like slipping on a favorite pair of slippers. Sorry that the stories have to come out slower, I'm worried about my life outside of Fanfiction, and I really hope that it doesn't bother everyone too much.**

**Next time: A sequel to Flames of Rancor.**


	15. FoR II: Bleeding Emeralds

**Request: What if Kai had joined Chen for real back in Season 4?**

**Requested by: Originally by TheMayorOfNinjago, later RebelFanja displayed interest.**

**Warnings: Character death**

**Pairings: Kailor**

**AU: Evil Kai**

**A/N: Look, I know I should be working on other stuff, but I do what I want when I want, and this keeps nagging at my brain, begging me to write it.**

**The Flames Of Rancor Part Two:**

**Bleeding Emeralds**

**Nya**

Crunch.

Crunch.

Crunch.

Nya looked up from where she was hidden, her heart leaping into her throat and thudding painfully against her chest. She wasn't alone. Someone else was there.

Glancing around the clearing from behind the tall eucalyptus tree she was huddled against, Nya saw no one, causing her to relax in relief. She had split up with Lloyd and Garmadon that morning, the three of them deciding that it would be best if they weren't all captured at once.

Nya could have laughed at that notion. Her? Samurai X? _Captured?_ What a silly idea! She wasn't going to let anyone capture her if she could help it. Chen and his men would have to scour the entire island just to catch a trace of her!

And yet, Nya couldn't shake the nagging feeling that someone was searching for her. And not in a nice way. In the hunt-you-down and end you kind of way.

Glancing around again, Nya sprinted across the clearing and slipped beneath the canopy cover of the jungle, hoping and praying that she hadn't been spotted. Darting beneath a fallen log, Nya leaped a boulder and landed in a clearing.

Pausing to gasp for breath, she looked around and started in surprise. Hidden in the foliage and moss were three water skimmer bikes, the kind that leap waves and zoom through riptides. Almost like jet skis, but faster and better built. Made for fleeing, not fun. Nya observed them suspiciously, running her hand down all sides and checking the engines.

They appeared to be in good working order, filled with fuel and ready to run. That was weird. Really, really, weird. Suspicious almost. Could this be a trap?

Reaching over carefully, Nya opened the hood of a water skimmer bike, squeezing her eyes shut just in case it exploded in her face. Checking the engines, she was surprised to find that the bikes were well-maintained, oiled, and even filled with gas. Shutting the hood, Nya turned around, realizing that there was a path behind the water bikes that lead directly down to the ocean, which she could see through the foliage, sparkling in the distance.

A painful tug in her chest pulled up a long-suppressed memory. Her mother, standing before her while water played around them, in the middle of the night on a bridge far from the village. The people of Ignacia had always been suspicious of Elemental powers.

Nya shook it off. She barely remembered her parents half the time, and they didn't deserve any of her precious thoughts now. Instead, she checked over the water bike one last time, pulling some leaves over them. As soon as she met up with Garmadon and Lloyd again, they could finally get off this deathtrap.

She sighed softly, stepping over to add another layer of moss to the skis of the bike, but as she did, there was a rustling of the wind. Nya's head snapped up, and her breathing increased, panic stabbing her in the midsection.

"Hey," A voice behind her called, and Nya whirled around to see a red-haired girl a little older than her sitting on a boulder across the clearing. The girl nodded to the bikes. "Pretty cool, aren't they?" She hopped off the boulder and laid a hand on one of them. "Too bad my dad never let me use them."

"Who are you?" Nya asked, backing away from the strange girl until she nearly tripped over a fern and had to stop. "And how did you find me?"

She smiled at Nya, looking almost genuine. Either she actually felt that way, or she was a _really_ good actress. "Sorry. I'm Skylor, and I grew up here." She explained.

"You _grew up_ here?" Nya stared in disbelief. She had thought Skylor was a competitor, not a… resident?

"Yeah, I mean, Chen's my dad, so it kind of-"

"CHEN'S YOUR _DAD_!?" Nya nearly shouted, startling Skylor and cutting her off, she glanced down the path, wondering how far she could get before Skylor grabbed her.

"Shhh!" Skylor hissed. "It's okay, he won't be hurting anyone anymore. You're safe, alright?"

"I'm… what?" Nya stared at Skylor, half-surprised, half-horrified. She tried to step backwards and accidentally crushed the fern beneath her Samurai boots. "Chen's… dead… isn't he."

Skylor sighed heavily, becoming very interested in the moss around their ankles. "Nya, your brother misses you a whole lot. You can come back with me and be safe in the palace. Kai will take care of you the way he used to, but as the Green Ninja now."

"What!?" Nya exclaimed. Skylor must've been concussed at some point. That was crazy! "Kai's not the Green Ninja!"

Skylor sighed again and took a step closer to Nya. "Not yet, but he will be soon."

Nya rolled her eyes. "Look, I don't know what you've been drinking, but Kai's not the Green Ninja. Lloyd is. And I really think I should be going." She stepped back, reaching behind her to feel the edge of one of the water bikes.

Skylor squeezed her eyes shut. "I didn't want it to come to this, Nya, but you've left me no choice." She held out a shaky finger as Nya grabbed the handle of a water bike. "Seize her!"

Nya flipped the switch on the water bike, and it roared to life beneath her as several thugs appeared through the trees. Mounting the bike, Nya spun it around towards the distant ocean and pushed off.

A thug lunged for her, and she caught a scrap of green fabric flash before her. She shuddered. Kai really was serious about this. He was going to be the Green Ninja. She had to warn Wu and Misako.

Skylor leapt off a tree and tried to grab Nya, but ended up on the ground as Nya flew away from her. Towards the ocean. Towards the horizon.

Towards freedom.

Breaking free of the jungle, Nya's water bike shot over white sand and into the freezing ocean water, as the compass calibrated, she looked over her shoulder to see Skylor standing on the beach, holding a spear and watching her speed away into the sunlight.

Nya squinted. Under Skylor's right eye, was a bruise that hadn't been there before. Horror crawled across her nerves as she realized that that was her doing.

One day, Nya hoped she would be able to make that right.

But for now, the world needed her.

* * *

**Skylor**

Trudging back to the palace with her injuries wasn't the worst thing in the world. More than often, Chen would airdrop Skylor in the jungle and time her to see how fast she could make it back. As such, Skylor knew the geography and layout of the island better than she knew the rest of the world.

The three thugs Kai had insisted come with her all walked nearby. The closest one to her was about three feet away, on her left. He was the youngest and kept shooting her nervous looks while adjusting the beanie cap on his head. Skylor recognized him as a new convert, but she didn't know his name. There also appeared to be what looked like popcorn grease on his hat, and Skylor wasn't sure she wanted to bring that up. Ahead of her walked a cultist in a hoodie, the only other girl besides Skylor. She was eager to please and kept scanning the forest as if Lloyd and Garmadon would just materialize out of nowhere.

The last thug trudged behind them looking bored out of his mind, like he needed a nap. Skylor knew he used to be in her father's personal guard, and wouldn't dare try anything against her. Out of the three of them, Skylor actually felt most safe around him.

Walking through an archway into the palace, Skylor grimaced when she saw two logs hanging on the sides of the door, carved and charred to look like the dead bodies of Chen and Clouse. It had only been three days since Kai had killed Chen and took over, but Skylor still shuddered whenever she thought of that morning in the Temple, the flames, the screaming, the horrid smell…. All of it made her want to throw up.

She had hated her father, yes, but he was still her dad. At least Kai had allowed her to give him a proper Risen Anacondrai Burial. She remembered the way his charred cloak had slid off her fingers as his body slipped into the broiling lava of the volcano. Kai had ordered the wooden statues to be carved and charred, before being affixed to all of the entrances. Hopefully, any invaders would see them and back off. If he were a lion, Kai would be roaring a challenge to any of those who came to his territory uninvited.

Pausing outside the main meeting hall, the three thugs came to stand before her, waiting for instruction. Skylor took a deep breath. "Return to your barracks and let no one know of what happened out there. I will report to Kai myself."

The burly thug and hoodie girl nodded, both walking back to the barracks. The younger thug, with the greasy hat, however, walked up to Skylor. "Good luck, Captain!"

Skylor laughed slightly. "Thanks. I'm going to need it."

Taking another deep breath, Skylor forced her shoulders down, ignoring a painful knot, then moved quietly to the door. She laid a hand on the cool golden doorknob before she took another breath and twisted the knob, pushing the door open.

"Look, Chen isn't in charge anymore. This is my island now, and I don't want you to serve me in that way," Kai's voice rang out across the octagonal meeting hall. As Skylor walked into the room, she leaned onto a pillar to wait until Kai was finished. Gathered in the room, looking strangely like a fan gathering, stood most of the female Kabuki servants, watching Kai anxiously. After he had come to power, Kai had begun changing a lot of the rules, and it kind of unnerved the entire cult.

One Kabuki, a young girl about twelve, raised her hand. "But, Sir, if we aren't supposed to serve you like that, then what are we supposed to do?"

"Excellent point," Kai nodded. "Some of you will join the Risen Anacondrai as fully-fledged members. Others will work in the kitchen or gardens, and even as a cleaning staff."

He glanced around the group, who fidgeted uneasily. Skylor didn't blame them.

Ever since he had gained control of the staff, Kai's eyes had been an unearthly shade of red. It wasn't as bright as people thought, rather it was a rich, dark, color. Like arteries or sinew. Something that was supposed to be hidden but was exposed instead. It was unnerving. Unnatural. It took a lot of Skylor's time to reassure herself that he wouldn't hurt her.

But as she stepped out from behind the pillar, the memories of her father's screams seemed a lot louder, echoing in her ears. She shuddered heavily, forcing those thoughts away as the light from the skylights washed over her.

Kai stood up from Chen's throne and excused the Kabuki. He watched Skylor with his unnerving eyes for a long moment as she walked forward towards him. The Kabuki scattered, most fleeing the room, but a few peeked out from behind a few pillars, waiting to see what would happen.

"How'd it go?" Kai asked Skylor, stepped down the few stairs towards Skylor. "Did you find Nya?"

Skylor tried not to tremble when she felt Kai's red eyes fall upon her. She stared at the ornate rug, resisting the urge to scuff her shoes against it. "She… got away."

"Hmm," Kai looked at Skylor. "I guess we'll have to send out another search party." He dismissed the conversation with a wave of his hand. "Did you see Lloyd or Garmadon?"

"Er, no," Skylor paused. "Kai, Nya's not… on the Island anymore. She found a bunch of Water Skimmer Bikes and fled towards the mainland." She glanced at the walls and caught a view of the Kabuki servants retreating farther behind the pillars. "I'm sorry."

"Why are you sorry?" Kai asked, placing a finger under her chin and lifting it so he could look her in the eyes. "It wasn't your fault, was it?"

"No," Skylor was frozen with anxieties and fear. She knew that Kai wouldn't hurt her, but at the same time, she couldn't push the thought out of her head.

"Good," Kai turned back around, walking towards the throne. "I was thinking we could head out tonight to search for Lloyd and Garmadon. What do you think?"

Skylor stared at him, aghast. "You're not going to punish me?"

Kai gave her an odd look, but when he noticed her scared expression, he walked over to her, laying a hand on her shoulder. "Look, Skylor. It's okay to make mistakes sometimes. Your father isn't here to punish you for no reason anymore. Just because you couldn't catch Nya, who I admit is rather inventive and smart, doesn't mean that you should be punished, okay?"

Skylor stared at him for a long moment. He was… serious? But… her entire childhood had been spent being punished! Skylor looked up at Kai's eyes, which, despite their creepy-redness, were surprisingly gentle.

"If I hug you, will you punch me?" Kai asked playfully, wiggling his eyebrows in a flirtatious manner.

Skylor hesitated for a second before answering. "Yes. I mean- no, I won't punch you!" Her cheeks flushed red, but Kai took that as an okay and gently wrapped his arms around her shoulders.

Skylor gingerly moved her own arms to where they rested comfortably against Kai's back. After a second she realized she was trembling. Tears were welling in her eyes. No one had _ever_ just… _held_ her before. And it felt… good. Surprisingly good. It was warm. Comfortable. She had never felt this _vulnerable_ before. And yet, it was somehow safe. Resting against Kai, Skylor knew that here, it was okay to be weak. Kai played softly with the tips of her hair, and Skylor finally pulled away from him. Her body craved the warmth of his as she did, and she was rather tempted to snuggle back against him and stay like that forever.

"Thanks, Kai," Skylor felt a pink blush creeping across her cheeks as she spoke to him. "I needed that."

Kai looked at her for a long moment. "Have you _ever _been hugged before?"

Skylor blushed harder. "Why do you ask?"

Kai shrugged. "Just curious. With your dad and all."

Skylor shook her head quietly, and Kai smiled at her softly. His expression faded after a moment, and he looked down at the Staff of Elements, still tightly clasped in his hand. "Hey, I wanted to ask you something?"

"Sure," Skylor answered, looking down at the Staff as well. "About what?"

Kai took one of her hands gingerly. "How many powers did you absorb?"

"Most of them," Skylor answered with a shrug. "I missed Poison and Metal, though."

"I had an idea," Kai held out the Staff. "Do you think you could absorb them from the Staff Crystal itself?"

Skylor looked at the Staff for a long time. Her father's Staff. The instrument he used to torture her with. The instrument that had turned Kai's eyes bloody and injured his friends. She took a breath. "I don't know."

"You… don't have to," Kai answered, pulling the Staff away. "I was just curious."

"No," Skylor leaned forward. "Let me try it. What's the worst that can happen?"

Kai smiled, holding out the Staff.

Skylor took another breath and then laid a hand on the Staff's crystal. Nothing happened for a few seconds, then-

Pain. Pain. Pain. PAIN. PAINPAINPAINPAINPAIN.

Her arm was on fire. Her chest was on fire. Her lungs filled with poison and her eyes pooled with tears. Her knees shook and her torso convulsed. Electricity was crackling in her ears- she couldn't move the power was so- hurt-hurt-hurt-hurt hurt hurt HURTHURTHURT.

Skylor could only manage a weak whimper before the world yanked itself out from under her and she collapsed into total darkness.

* * *

**Skylor**

"Skylor?" a foggy voice called through the mist of her mind, gently tugging her from slumber. "Skylor?"

Someone shook her shoulders gently, but Skylor ignored them, skittishly darting away from the pain and back into the friendly darkness of her mind. The same person, however, was relentless, as they continued calling her name and shaking her.

Finally, Skylor realized that they probably weren't going to leave her alone anytime soon, and so she gingerly opened an eye, then the other one.

She vaguely recognized the ceiling of her room in the compound, as well as two figures leaning over her. One had black hair and white face paint, and she realized that she must be a Kabuki nurse. Beside the nurse stood another, green-clad figure with dark hair and a long Chrono Steel Staff.

Skylor blinked a few times, trying to clear away any of the fogginess. The two figures slid into view, revealing themselves as a Kabuki Nurse and as Kai. The nurse looked her over, while Kai began pacing anxiously, like one of the caged tigers they kept in the Cult's Menagerie.

"Is she going to be okay?" He demanded, facing the nurse angrily. Skylor tried to get up to stop him, but the agony exploding through her midsection caused her to quickly stop.

The Nurse took a long, deep breath. "I don't know. Elemental powers are something that I'm unfamiliar with."

Kai glared at her, but before he could open his mouth to tell her off, Skylor tried to step in.

"Kai?" She asked in a raspy voice, barely able to force the words out of her aching throat. "Izzat you?"

"Skylor!" Kai darted to her side, and Skylor felt a soft, warm hand brush over her forehead. "Yeah, I'm right here. Do you remember anything about the past four hours?"

"Four… hours?" Skylor could only groan. Had she really been out for that long? It hadn't felt like that, it was just… oh, First Spinjitzu Master, she was so _tired._

"Yes," Kai answered, taking one of her hands. "You passed out right after taking the Staff- you had a seizure, too. I thought you _died_."

Skylor sat up, rubbing her aching head. "Sorry? I guess?"

"No, you're good," Kai reached over and brushed some hair out of her face. Skylor winced when his fingers brushed the bruise on her cheek.

Kai squinted at it. "Where'd you get _this_?"

"I fell while chasing Nya," Skylor answered, pulling away from his incredibly nosy fingers. "It's fine. I've had worse."

Kai glared at the bruise as if it was somehow his fault for not preventing it. He waved to the hovering Kabuki Nurse, who leaned over to get a plant poultice. As soon as she handed it back, Kai gingerly applied it to Skylor's face, careful not to get any in her eyes. At first, she let him, but after he didn't stop, she swatted him gently.

"Look, I can do it myself, Kai," She reached up to rub in the Aloe-Comfrey poultice in. Kai backed off a bit, looking like a kicked dog. Skylor saw his expression and sighed. "I'm sorry, it's just, I don't need you to hover over me and make sure I'm fine. I can take care of myself sometimes. It doesn't mean I don't care about you."

Kai's expression brightened. "It doesn't?"

Skylor fought a chuckle. "Of course not. I just need some space sometimes, okay?"

"Sure," Kai answered, backing away a little bit. "But, one more thing."

"What do you mean, 'one more thing'?" Skylor asked, looking over his face for any hints. His eyes, still gory red, displayed none, but his mouth, downturned in a frown, let her know exactly what he was feeling.

"I'm still going to look for Lloyd and Garmadon, but _you're_ staying here," He crossed his arms, his body language making it final.

"What?!" Skylor protested. "Kai, I'm fine! I could still go with you!"

Kai sighed heavily. "You had a seizure! There is no way I'm letting you come."

Skylor opened her mouth to argue but decided against it. She could always sneak out later, after all. "Alright, fine. I'll stay here."

Kai smiled and took her hand, squeezing it gently. "Then, I'll see you, when I'm _officially _the Green Ninja!"

"Mhm," Skylor answered, laying back down. "See you then."

"Sleep well," Kai whispered, touching her shoulders gently before he got up and turned to the Nurse. "Keep watch over her, and alert me if she has another Seizure." He whispered. Then, he left the room.

As soon as he was gone, Skylor sat up. The nurse sighed. "Let me guess, you're going to follow him?"

Skylor bit her lip. "I… um…"

The Nurse walked over. "It's okay, I'll help. Do you need anything to make it work?"

"A few things, actually," Skylor answered. "And I'm not leaving until the sun sets. I need this to be as stealthy as possible."

"I got it," The Nurse nodded. "What is it then?"

"Well," Skylor glanced around, making sure no one was listening before she leaned into the Nurses ear and explained her plan.

* * *

**Lloyd**

The air of the jungle felt like breathing baby wipes.

That was a pretty gross simile, but Lloyd was too tired from trekking through the jungle to think of anything better. The muggy, humid air of the rainforest island hung close to the earth, damp and nauseating. He waded through a mud puddle, the saturated earth clinging to the pants and boots of his gi. Water sloshed around his ankles, frogs fled from his feet, and water lilies bobbed in the slimy pond.

With a sigh, Lloyd finally found a log that was buried in the underbrush. He climbed behind it finding a small rock hollow hidden beneath the rotting wood and slipped inside. Fortunately, his green Gi provided excellent camouflage against the underbrush.

Curling into the fetal position, Lloyd rested his head on a crooked arm, watching the forest with half-lidded eyes. A frog hopped an inch from his nose. A dragonfly decided to sit on his hair, and a gecko tried to climb his pants (it failed).

With another sigh, Lloyd sat up, scaring both the frog and dragonfly, before leaning against the rotting log and pulling his knees up to his chest. He leaned back farther, tilting his head to the point where he was staring at the gray, cloudy sky between the leaves of the canopy.

A rustle caught his attention, and Lloyd looked up, startled. The bush rustled harder, and Lloyd took a deep breath, leaning forward and grabbing a long, thick, clublike stick. He crouched, fingering the stick and flexing all of his muscles, preparing for all of Chen's army to come leaping out of the underbrush. Instead, an older man stumbled out, gasping for air. He fell onto his stomach almost the instant he appeared.

"Dad!?" Lloyd exclaimed, running to his father's side. Garmadon was covered in mosquito bites and looked incredibly sick. He was shaking all over, but when Lloyd laid his hands on his father's shoulders, he could feel the waves of heat emanating off him.

Garmadon groaned, keeping his eyes closed. "Lloyd? Is that you?"

"Yeah, dad, it's me," Lloyd answered quietly, hoping no one could hear him. Garmadon looked horrible. "What happened?"

"Mosquitos, Lloyd," Garmadon groaned, shaking harder, gasping for air. "They're infected with…" he grimaced, then gasped. "...Malaria."

Lloyd's blood ran cold, and he sat back slowly, taking in the news. Very few people survived Malaria without medical attention, and not to mention, his father was very old. The chances of survival were very, very low. Then again, he was the son of the First Spinjitzu Master and had lived for hundreds of years before this, so the chances of Garmadon dying from Malaria evened out some.

Lloyd swallowed, then took a deep breath. "I'm going to try and move you so you're more comfortable, dad. Is that okay?"

Garmadon cracked open an eye and winced. "Yes, Lloyd."

Lloyd lifted one of Garmadon's arms and ducked beneath it, helping his father up, then he moved Garmadon near the edge of the log and tried to make his father comfortable. Lloyd sat down next to him, then with a depressed sigh, dropped his face into his hands and began to cry. He cried for a long, long time while Garmadon slept beside him.

Nya was gone, Kai was gone, Zane was _still_ missing, Cole and Jay had disappeared, Chen was dead, Clouse was dead. The mission that was supposed to reunite their team had only torn it apart further. Lloyd had no access to Wu or Misako (he began to cry harder when he realized this because as much as Lloyd would deny it, he missed his mom). He didn't even have the falcon to talk to.

As he sobbed, however, Lloyd began to realize that things aren't entirely hopeless. His father, however sick, was right beside him. If Nya hadn't found them, there was a good chance she'd escaped the island. Taking a few deep, heaving breaths, Lloyd looked up from his crying fit when Garmadon laid a hand on his foot.

"I'm sorry, dad," Lloyd whispered, taking his father's hand. It felt too weak, too frail. In that instant, Lloyd almost missed his father's evil form. At least then, he hadn't worried about Garmadon's death.

"Not your fault," Garmadon whispered, grimacing in pain as he squeezed Lloyd's hand. "Look, Lloyd, they're coming for us."

"How do you know?" Lloyd asked, trembling slightly. "It's been days, dad, they could've caught us a long time ago, why now?"

Garmadon shook his head slightly. "It's the first time he's felt confident since…" he winced, moving his other hand up to rub his aching head. "He's going to come for you, Lloyd. You have to leave me and run."

"Dad, I can't-"

Garmadon squeezed his hand so hard Lloyd winced. "You have to. Go on, get out of here."

"No," Lloyd lay back against the log, and Garmadon relaxed.

"Fine," He muttered. "Just a little longer, but afterwards," He tugged on Lloyd's arm. "Promise me you'll run."

"I," Lloyd sighed. "What am I running from?"

Garmadon gasped slightly for air. "It doesn't matter who, but you have to run. Promise me."

Lloyd didn't say anything, just stared at his father's aching body.

"PROMISE ME!" Garmadon half-shouted at Lloyd and the boy swallowed.

"I… I promise," He bit his lip, trembling slightly. His father was telling him to run, but he didn't know what from, or where to. The fever must be making Garmadon delirious.

Leaning against the log again, Lloyd took a deep breath in and closed his eyes.

* * *

**Skylor**

Skylor was amazing at keeping quiet in the jungle. She'd grown up here, escaping tigers and racing forest deer. Now, creeping after Kai in the shadowy twilight of the jungle, she approached the former Fire Ninja as he observed the leaves of the jungle. He was hunting Lloyd the way a jaguar hunts a bird; patient and quiet.

Skylor crept alongside him, so close that she could reach out and touch the edge of Kai's new green Gi. She refrained from doing so, instead choosing to watch him from the shadows. Her powers came in handy, as she used Light to essentially disappear. Combining it with Mind, she could quell the pounding headache she currently had. Maybe setting out after just having a seizure _wasn't_ the best idea.

Never mind that, she was on a mission. If Kai was going to be the Green Ninja, he would need her help, no matter how much he told her to stay behind. Headache or not, she could still use her powers, and that's what counted… right?

Kai stopped suddenly when the Staff flickered violently. Chen's staff had a strange ability to it because it could be used almost like a dowsing rod, but for elemental powers. Whereas a traditional dowsing rod could find water, The Staff glowed with light whenever it was near an Elemental Master.

Skylor's heart leapt into her throat as she watched Kai spin in a wide circle, watching the brightness and frequency of the light flashes. When he turned to her direction, the light became so bright, Skylor shielded her eyes. Lloyd must be directly behind her!

She spun around, expecting to see a hiding Green Ninja, but instead, there was nothing there. That was… odd. The Magic in The Staff must be malfunctioning or… something.

"I know you're in there," Kai spoke out loud, looking straight through Skylor. "And you can come out. Hiding won't do anything for you."

Skylor's heart was beating so loud she had no idea how Kai hadn't found her yet.

Kai sighed heavily, holding up the Staff. "I said, COME OUT!"

Skylor bit her lip, unsure of what to do. If she emerged, Kai would be furious, but if she stayed, he might attack her. She took a breath. Better yelled at than dead, right?

Pushing back the ferns, she stepped out into the open and dropped her invisibility. Kai gasped, and Skylor squeezed her eyes shut, preparing for an emotion beration. Instead, Kai folded his arms across his chest in a frustrated manner.

"I thought I told you not to come," He told her, looking… genuinely confused, actually, as if he couldn't believe she'd disobey him.

Skylor avoided his eyes. "Kai, I had to come. There's no way you'll be able to find your way around the island by yourself, even with the Staff as a Dowsing Rod. I'm sorry."

Kai sighed heavily, weighing his options. "Valid point, but what about _you_. You. Had. A. Seizure. I get it, you're an elemental master, but you still need to rest."

"I've been using Nero's mind powers," Skylor confessed. "Mind, I mean. It seems to be helping."

"Are you sure?" Kai asked, stepping closer to her. "If you're still hurting, _please_, for the love of the First Spinjitzu Master, head back now!"

Skylor fought the urge to roll her eyes. Kai was being overprotective. When she was seven, she'd had a seizure similar to that one, and that's how she discovered she had powers. It was probably just an Amber thing.

"Come on, then," Kai nodded towards the west. "We should keep going."

"Yeah," Skylor nodded. "We should."

Turning towards the west, a drop of water fell from the sky. Then another. Then another, then another, and another, until they were sloshing through a full-blown rainstorm. Skylor stared up at the sky, curious as to how Lloyd was faring in this weather.

As they crept through the forest, however, she got her answer when Kai's staff lit up and began to flash frantically, yanking them through the woods and towards a far away point. Skylor looked at Kai's eyes anxiously as he grinned, staring through the woods at a fleeing Green Figure.

Kai's eyes glittered with excitement, and he watched Lloyd run, trembling with the urge to hunt. Skylor shivered in the rain.

For the first time since Kai had taken over, Skylor didn't want to follow his orders. Taking down her father? Sure. Hanging up burned logs to scare people off? Ehhh… Chasing down and killing Lloyd? No.

But, with no other option, Skylor took a deep breath, swallowed the bile in her throat, and followed Kai into the rain.

* * *

**Lloyd**

His feet must be bleeding at this point. That or his lungs. Lloyd ran. He ran and ran and ran. When he got tired, he used a trick Jay had taught him, channeling the power of his element into energy to run with. His eyes watered and his lungs burned while he ran, but he couldn't stop. Every step carried him farther from his father, but also farther from the danger that was painfully close.

Tripping over a log, Lloyd stumbled, then pulled himself up, gasping for breath. He ran faster, even though his calves and thighs screamed at him to stop. Making a sharp turn, Lloyd skidded on some damp moss, the rain pouring down wetting his hair and face as he ran. His mind wandered to his father, hidden beneath the log in the woods. Who would know what could happen to Garmadon now?

Footsteps sounded from behind him, and Lloyd ran faster, some panicking animal instincts inside him screaming at him to run faster. In a horrifying thought, Lloyd realized that he was being hunted, like a prey animal.

With a cry of exhaustion that only came from running for four days, Lloyd flung himself forward a few feet before he collapsed in the cold mud. Curling into a shaking ball, he closed his eyes and waited for whatever was hunting him to take his life.

What felt like years (but was more than likely just a few minutes) later, footsteps from behind him indicated that the hunter had arrived. Lloyd squeezed his eyes tighter, and curled into a tenser ball, ready for whatever was about to hap-

"Well, well, well,***** if it isn't the famous "Green Ninja"?" A voice behind him taunted. "Not so powerful now, are you?"

Lloyd's eyes popped open with elated surprise. It was Kai! Kai had come to rescue him! The strange tone of Kai's voice didn't bother him, Kai was known to tease, after all.

Lloyd sat up gingerly, even though every conceivable muscle in his body screamed in protest, and looked at Kai happily. "Kai!" His face fell after only a second when he saw Kai looming over him, gripping the Staff of Elements tightly in one hand. "K-Kai?"

Kai smiled at him, but it wasn't a typical, friendly smile, no, it was evil. "Lloyd. Fancy seeing you here."

"What…" Lloyd scrambled backwards when he caught a glimpse of Kai's unnerving eye color. "What happened to you?"

Kai laughed bitterly. "Y'know, Lloyd, for the Green Ninja, you're not very smart."

That stung. Lloyd glared at Kai, searching their surroundings for any sign of why Kai was acting weird when he spotted Skylor watching from the shadows.

"You!" He shouted, dragging himself to his feet and throwing an energy blast her way. Skylor was faster than that, however, and dodged to expertly, appearing behind him after using the power of Shadow. "You turned Kai against me!"

Kai laughed again. "Oh, Lloyd, tsk, tsk, so naive," he leaned in, taking Lloyd's chin and tilting it upwards to look him in the unnerving eyes. "No one turned me against you, I simply realized that… I should've been the Green Ninja. And now," He laughed. "I'm just taking what's rightfully mine. Your power."

"You… you can't…" Lloyd scrambled backwards even farther. "Kai!"

Kai held out the staff, and Lloyd looked up at him with wide eyes. "Kai, please, I thought, we're brothers, remember? You saved me from the volca-"

"Whatever you thought," Kai snorted. "It's wrong."

Agony.

Lloyd screamed and screamed, and even when he wasn't sure how he was even getting air, he somehow kept screaming as his powers were forcibly torn from his body, from his soul. Finally, he collapsed, his shaking body aching both with physical pain and the emptiness of where his powers should be.

"Why…" he gasped. "Why, Kai?"

"Don't worry about it, Lloyd," Kai smiled, showing all his teeth. "It'll be over soon."

Lloyd moaned in pain, looking up at the sky for something to hold onto. Lightning flickered. He was vaguely aware of Kai raising the staff, and it powered up with something dangerous. Squeezing his eyes shut, Lloyd sniffed.

Kai grinned manically. "Goodbye, Green Ninja."

Far in the distance, thunder rolled.

* * *

***Why do villains always say this?**

**A/N: Well, this turned out longer than I expected. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it, and I'll see you with the next installment of the series, ColdWaterChicken's request for a 'good Harumi' AU!**


	16. Jade Nindroid

**Request: ****Can you make a Oneshot in a Ninjago Au where Mr. E is the Quiet One but no one knows yet and Harumi is good?**

**Requested by: ColdWaterChicken (guest)**

**Warnings: Good Harumi, crushing on an already-paired character (Zane)**

**Pairings: Harumi/Lloyd, Harumi/Zane**

**AU: Good Harumi**

**A/N: Apologies, but I kind of screwed with S8's timing because it affects the flow of the story. Also, the whole thing is quite relationship-oriented, less action-oriented. If that's not what you wanted, tell me and I can change it.**

**Jade Nindroid**

Harumi was having a panic attack.

Sitting on the floor of the bounty, she curled into a ball, holding her legs and resting her chin on her knees. She didn't even want to look around the bedroom of the bounty, where the Ninja, Cole, Kai, Nya, Jay, Lloyd, and Zane all lived some of the time.

She felt too exposed, too scared. Her parents were dead- even if they had adopted her, her home was gone, and some mysterious 'Quiet One' was out to get her and the Ninja.

Speaking of the Ninja, that led to the real reason Harumi was hiding in the bunkroom. Zane was on a Ninja mission. As much as she tried to not be a fangirl as a child, she couldn't help but sympathise with the Ninja's large fanbase.

Five boys (and one girl) with magical powers that fight to protect the country and are all kind and reasonably handsome? It was any girl's dream. Though she'd avoided becoming a hardcore Ninja fan, living in the base of your heroes was enough to make anyone's head fuzzy.

Not only that, but Harumi had a huge crush on one of the Ninja: Zane.

He was so different from the others, calculating and intelligent, but with a sense of warmth that radiated from every fiber of his titanium being. Harumi couldn't think when she imagined him. He was kind and funny, oh, gosh, her mouth was dry and her heart was beating just _thinking _about him.

But now, he was on a mission with the Ninja in Black, Cole, and wouldn't be back for a few hours… if he even came- No, no! Harumi shoved those thoughts away. There was no way she would let her fear for Zane's life control her. Scrunching down beneath her Green Hoodie, Harumi sighed, resting her forehead on her knees.

"Hey, Harumi?" A voice asked. Harumi looked up to see the Water Ninja, Nya, kneeled before her, smiling slightly. "Are you okay?"

Harumi hadn't noticed she was crying but quickly wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her hoodie. "Hmm? Yes, I'm fine."

Nya moved to sit beside her, rather than going away like Harumi had hoped. "You're worried about someone, aren't you?"

Icy shock ripped through Harumi's ribcage, even though simply having a crush on someone wasn't illegal. It just felt… wrong, though. Zane wasn't a human, he was a Nindroid. Was it wrong for a human to love a Nindroid? Was it like interracial relationships? Probably not, since robots aren't another race. What if it was like a cat and a raccoon got married? They're not the same species, but… close enough?

"...Yeah," She finally answered Nya, looking away at the pictures on the wall. One of them happened to be Jay, Cole, and Zane all whitewater rafting (It had to be assumed that Lloyd was holding the camera and Kai was safely back on land). Her heart jumped at the shape of Zane's smile. "Sorry, I guess?"

"That's okay, I get it," Nya answered, following Harumi's gaze to the bulletin board. "I always hated getting left out of the action."

"Have…" Harumi bit her lip, wondering if Nya would judge her for liking Zane. He was like a brother to the Water Ninja… right? "Have you ever had a crush on someone but don't know how to… express it?"

Now Harumi just wanted to hide beneath the beds and never come out. She covered her blushing cheeks. Here she was, sitting on the floor with the _Water Ninja_ of all people, her IDOL, and she asked about _relationship advice?!_

"Yeah, all the time," Nya answered, fingering a wood chip that had come off one of the walls. "It's kind of hard to tell someone something when you're not sure if they agree, right?"

Harumi nodded, relaxing slightly. "...Yeah."

"One of my friends still has the same problem," Nya shrugged. "It's a part of life, I think. You just have to take the chance." She tossed the wood chip across the room and it landed in a half-melted candle from _Couch, Shower, and More_.

A feminine voice crackled over the intercom. "Nya, if I may disagree, I believe that taking unnecessary risks, especially when one is still learning about their urges and desires can be detrimental to one's mental health."

Harumi looked around slightly. "What do you mean, um, Pixie?" She didn't remember the A.I.'s name, but that was her best shot.

"Pixal," The A.I. corrected gently. "For example, when I first met Zane, I suddenly had feelings that I'd never known about before, and it was rather difficult to manage those emotions while also wondering whether he reciprocated them. Fortunately for me, he did, but I only told him after observing his behavior and emotions for enough time to be sure of his feelings."

Harumi's heart dropped. Zane… was in love with… someone else? Another girl? Harumi slumped over and covered her eyes.

There was the heavy thudding sounds of footsteps and a figure appeared in the doorway. "Nya!" Lloyd stumbled into the room. "Cole's back but Zane's missing. We need you on deck! Now!"

Nya glanced at Harumi, before leaping to her feet. "I'll be back soon, Harumi."

Harumi slumped over as Lloyd and Nya ran out of the room, covering her eyes and beginning to cry. Zane was missing, and not only that, he was in love with another girl! Everything felt… hopeless. Glancing at the walls, Harumi took a shaky breath and stood up, walking over to the bulletin board.

Observing the pictures, she smiled slightly. It seemed like these Ninja were closer than just friends. Glancing over them, her heart skipped at a picture with Zane in it. Next to that one was a female Nindroid with pale white skin and green eyes. Above those two was a photo of Cole with an older man who vauegly resembled him, a family photo of Jay, a Cliff Gordan fan poster (for… whatever reason) and a smiling redhead girl in an orange hood.

Smiling slightly, Harumi observed a photo of Zane as he looked curiously towards the camera. The photo beside it made her laugh, however, as it featured a snapshot of Lloyd at the Ninjago City Aquarium getting attacked by a seagull.

Sitting down on the floor, Harumi sighed, observing the photos tiredly.

Footsteps alerted her to the presence of someone else, and, looking up from the floor, Harumi watched Lloyd enter the room. "Hey, Rumi? I wanted to talk…"

"Sure," She patted the space next to her, watching him silently as he sat down beside her. "About what?"

"See... Harumi, I, um, I," He scratched the back of his neck anxiously. "Have you ever been in love with someone but weren't sure how to act?"

"Yeah," Harumi fiddled with the string on her hoodie, feeling oddly guilty. "I've felt like that before. Why?"

"See," Lloyd glanced at the floor. "See, there's this girl that I like, I mean, I really like her, she's clever and pretty, and… she understands what it's like to lose someone close to her. But I don't know how to tell her how I feel."

"I don't know either," Harumi sighed, looking at her shoes. "I liked someone for a while, and he was smart and handsome and tall, but it turns out he has a girlfriend, and now I feel… guilty?"

"I get it," Lloyd sighed, staring at a picture of Kai and a redhead girl hiking together. "Dangit. Feelings are hard."

Harumi laughed. "Yes, they are. They're really hard."

Lloyd reached out and laid a hand on hers. Harumi tried to ignore it, but something in her chest pulled slightly, craving the cozy, secure feeling on Lloyd's touch. She blushed.

"To be honest, I forgot we had some of these photos," Lloyd shook his head nostalgically. He lifted his other hand and pointed. "Like that one, when I got attacked by a seagull. I kept yelling at everyone to help me, but they took pictures first."

Harumi wrinkled her nose. "That's not very nice."

"It's just the guys being the guys," Lloyd shrugged. "I mean, I did the same thing when Jay exploded the toaster, or when Kai lit a can of spray paint on fire."

Harumi laughed. "Your brothers do those things?"

"The toaster one was an accident. The spray paint… wasn't," Lloyd laughed, he sat up suddenly. "Hey, we should take a picture for the bulletin board!"

"...Why?" Harumi asked and Lloyd rummaged around in a drawer and pulled out a beat-up zebra-striped polaroid camera.

"Just to remember, I mean," Lloyd blushed. "I think that'd be kind of nice, but you don't have to if-"

"Okay," Harumi came to stand beside him. "As long as you can take one for me, too. Oh, and if you explain who half the people on the bulletin board are."

Lloyd chuckled but lifted the camera. At the last second, just as Harumi was blinded by the flash, he put his arm around her. The shutter clicked twice, and Lloyd moved to see how it came out. His arm didn't move.

"Hey, it came out good!" Lloyd exclaimed, holding up the photo. He turned, sticking it to the bulletin board with a thumbtack in the shape of a panda. The camera whizzed again, and Lloyd handed the second picture to Harumi.

She smiled at it slightly, at the goofy expression on Lloyd's face, and at her own, oddly cross-eyed look.

"Do you still want to know who these people are?" Lloyd asked, motioning to the photos.

"Oh, yeah," Harumi shook her head, clearing the cottony thoughts that had begun to clog her brain. "Who are they?"

Lloyd pointed to the android. "That's what Pixal's physical body looked like," He moved his hand to the redhead in the orange cloak. "This is Skylor. She and Kai are… kind of a thing," He leaned down to whisper. "Even though neither of them admit it." Pointing to a slightly overweight man in a sloppy brown gi, Lloyd identified him as 'Dareth'. Beside him was a picture of a one-eyed man, who Lloyd called 'Ronin'.

Harumi smiled slightly, and her eyes darted to the picture she and Lloyd had just taken. Now she was included on the wall of the Ninja's friends and allies.

Tilting her head, Harumi jumped slightly when she touched Lloyd's shoulder. She hadn't realized he still had an arm around her waist. Lloyd let go and stepped away slightly, blushing. "Sorry," He mumbled.

Harumi only nodded in agreement. She stared at the photos for a long time. "Hey, Lloyd? I… I think I'm in love."

"You do?" Lloyd asked, turning his head to look at her.

"Yeah," Harumi looked at her hands, blushing. "Lloyd, I think I'm in love with you."

Lloyd's eyes widened, and his breath hitched audibly. "You… you do?"

Harumi swallowed, squeezing her eyes shut, and nodded.

"Rumi… I… I was wondering how to tell you,"

Harumi's eyes snapped open. "Wait, that girl you were talking about was me!?"

Lloyd chuckled. "Of course. Who else would I be talking about?"

"Nya?" Harumi shrugged. "I don't know."

"NYA?!" Lloyd made a face. "Ew, that would be like… dating a sibling, bleh…" His nose wrinkled, and he shuddered violently.

"So, you think when this whole thing is over, do you, want to go out?" Harumi asked nervously.

Lloyd beamed. "Of course!"

There was a knock at the door. Lloyd looked towards it. "Come in!"

Nya pushed open the door, her face strained. "I have news. We found Zane, but he's hurt. The other thing is…" She trailed off.

"Did you discover the identity of The Quiet One?" Harumi asked, stepped towards her.

Nya nodded. "The Quiet One is Mr. E, and… he's a Nindroid."

"A nindroid?" Lloyd came to stand beside Harumi. "...How?"

"I don't know," Nya answered, "But Cole and Kai have been asking to see you two."

Lloyd nodded, taking Harumi's hand. Nya ducked under the low doorway and headed to the stairs. Harumi glanced back at the wall of photos and touched the one in her pocket gingerly. No matter what happened from this point onward, she had Lloyd at least.

And that was enough to keep her going.

**A/N: CUT!**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed! I for sure enjoyed writing the dynamic between Harumi and Zane. It's a pretty unique ship that I've never seen before. **

**Next oneshot: I think it's about time I write a sequel to **_**Mirror, Mirror**_**. :)**

**Requests are still closed.**


	17. MM II: Shards Remain

**Request: Sequel to **_**Mirror, Mirror**_

**Requested by: cha0ticm0nster**

**Warnings: N/A**

**Pairings: N/A**

**AU: Movieverse Ninja meet Showverse Ninja**

**A/N: Headcanon: Cole likes small fluffy things and occasionally brings home kittens, puppies, and other floofy creatures. This is important to the plot.**

**Shards Remain**

Lloyd, Zane, and Kai were bored.

Not the normal type of 'oh, I'm bored' bored, but more of the 'crap I broke something and Nya is going to kill me' bored.

Which is why all three of them were walking through the forest in the middle of the night.

They actually hadn't broken something, surprisingly, but due to Cole's habit of bringing home injured animals, the dachshund puppy he had recently brought home had gotten out and now they had to find it before Cole got home from the latest Starfarer movie with Jay.

"Here boy," Zane called, shaking a dog treat box.

Kai sighed so hard his entire body slumped. "This is pointless. Look at these woods, there's no way we'll find a dog in here!"

"We can't give up," Lloyd answered. "Whatever happened to Ninja never quit?"

"That applies to city-destroying monsters," Kai grumbled with an eye roll. "Not lost puppies."

"It would be hypocritical to suggest that we only follow our values in certain situations," Zane reasoned. "Perhaps you should-"

"Stop talking," Kai cut him off.

Lloyd folded his arms grumpily. "Kai, you can't tell Zane to-"

"Shh," Kai shushed him, holding up an arm. "Did you guys hear that?"

Zane and Lloyd fell quiet, straining their ears until a faint whimpering noise leaked through the darkness.

"What was that?" Lloyd whispered to Kai.

"I think it's the puppy," Kai hissed back.

"It came from the east," Zane noted, pointing.

The three of them glanced at one another before stealthily creeping through the underbrush towards the source of the noise.

Spoiler alert: It was the puppy.

Other spoiler alert: The puppy was staring into a glittering pale white pond.

"There is no way that pond is so naturally white," Kai grumbled. "What's it infected with?"

"My sensors detect nothing," Zane answered. "It may be from an excess of calcium, however."

"But these mountains are made of basalt," Lloyd added. "Where would calcium come from?"

"Not to mention the water's _glowing_," Kai added. "That doesn't look like calcium to me."

Zane sighed heavily. "Why don't we investigate?"

All three of them crept forward. Before the puppy could notice them, Kai darted forward and snatched the tiny dog up, placing it's squirming from inside his jacket until the little dog calmed down.

The only thing was… the dog's reflection didn't move. It instead cocked its head, barking when it didn't know where it's reflection had gone.

"Uhh, guys?" Kai called. "The reflection…" He trailed off when he saw his reflection self wave.

Reflection Kai smiled. "What's up?"

Kai stared, shocked. Lloyd looked over his shoulder and the Reflection Lloyd that appeared widened his eyes. Zane came to sit beside them, looking in at himself.

"Do I really look like that?" Kai asked, wrinkling his nose and squinting. Reflection Kai folded his arms.

"Really? Of course. You're me," He looked so angry.

"No, I'm not," Kai snapped. "I'm me."

"This is ridiculous," Reflection Kai rolled his eyes.

"Who are you?" Lloyd breathed, watching transfixed.

His counterpart smirked. "I'm you, but more angry at my dad."

"Hello," Reflection Zane smirked. "I am Zane, a normal Teenager!"

Zane stared, horror creeping across his face. "Is…" he whispered, his eyes huge. "Is that really me?"

"There's no way you're me," Lloyd said to his reflection. "It's probably just some weird magic or a clever bit of programming."

"But… _we're_ real," Reflection Kai argued. "_You're_ the 'clever bit of programming'."

"What are you guys doing, anyway," Kai asked, folding his arms and giving the reflection a squinty look.

"We were taking Cole's dog for a walk," Zane grinned, lifting the puppy up to reveal it was wearing a harness and had a leash attached.

Zane, Kai, and Lloyd shared a look.

Then, Zane stepped away from the glittering pool and motioned for the others to follow him. Kai and Lloyd watched the pool suspiciously, but followed him anyways, ducking beneath a pine tree. The puppy squirmed against Kai's chest, it's tiny claws digging into his skin.

"What is it, Zane?" Lloyd asked the Nindroid, who was watching the pond suspiciously.

"There is a very low chance that the pond is programmed unless it is some elaborate prank from Jay," Zane answered nervously.

"There's no way," Kai answered. "He likes to be around us when we get pranked so he can see our reactions."

"Exactly my thoughts," Zane agreed. He turned back to Lloyd. "What I believe is that this may have had to do with the inter-dimensional mirror that Wu was speaking about a few weeks ago."

"The mirror?" Lloyd asked. "Didn't Wu smash that?"

Kai thought for a moment before his eyes lit up. "Jay came back with a trash bag full of glass that he said was found in a stream about a week ago."

"Perhaps Jay missed a shard of glass," Zane answered. "And the magic spread to the rest of the pond."

"Is that even how magic works?" Lloyd asked, eyeing the pond. "It can spread like cancer?"

Zane sighed. "No. It's more like… if you popped a balloon full of colored water in a bowl of clear water. It mixes and colors all of the water."

"Well, how do we get it to stop?" Kai asked. "I don't really think we should leave a portal open… especially not _that_ one."

Lloyd sighed this time. "Maybe if we remove the glass?"

Kai smiled. "That could work, right, Zane?" He double-checked with the Nindroid.

"Maybe," Zane glanced at the pond. "But perhaps not. The magic has already filled the entire pond, and removing the shard would be of little help."

"So what can we do?" Lloyd bit his bottom lip. Really, he was just anxious to get home with the dog before Cole found out they lost him.

Zane thought for a moment before coming up with an idea. "Some of the rocks here have small quantities of a vengestone-like substance, as in they have similar molecular structures and are made up of…." He continued his explanation, something about anatomical ingredients and polar covalent compounds, but he'd lost Kai and Lloyd after the bit about molecular structure.

Noticing his friends were looking at him blankly, Zane sighed. "It can block magic, but not as effectively as vengestone."

"So… how much would we need?" Lloyd asked, catching on. "One rock? Two?"

"Fifteen," Zane sighed. "Assuming that they are all about the size of a fist and made of the pure substance."

"I have an idea," Kai butted in. "Instead of dropping the rocks in the pool, what if we just fill the whole thing with dirt?"

"What do you mean, Kai?" Zane asked. "We cannot simply fill an entire pond with earth."

"Wait," Lloyd jumped into the conversation. "What if we just told the other… us's… to just stay away from the pond. That would solve that problem, wouldn't it?"

"Lloyd!" Zane exclaimed. "You are… technically not a genius... but that may actually work!"

"Thanks?" Lloyd asked, walking back towards the pool, Kai right behind him. The two of them stopped at the edge of the pool, and looked down, soon seeing their reflections creeping over the side of the pond.

"Hey, um... Me?" Lloyd started. "We were wondering if you guys could… forget this happened?"

Other Lloyd's eyes widened. "No way… I was going to ask you the same thing!"

Lloyd smiled. "Well, I guess we should… uh… do that?"

Both Kai's sighed.

Zane squinted off into the distance. "Does that look like the car to you?"

All three of them looked at one another.

"Oh no."

"Cole's gonna kill us."

"I'm not the one who let him out!"

"You opened the gate!"

"And then you HELD it open!"

"... all valid points."

Scrambling, all three ninja took off through the woods, sprinting towards the distant monastery, the puppy still safely inside Kai's coat.

Reflection Lloyd smiled, rolling his eyes, then glanced at his two friends. "C'mon guys, let's go home."

* * *

**End.**

**A/N: Okay, to be completely honest with you, I like this one better than I liked the original, and I hope you like it too. It was really fun to write Kai, Lloyd, and Zane just… hanging out.**

**Anyway, next week… Anyone up for a little… Glacier?**

**Requests are still closed. ;)**


	18. Enchanted Encounter

**Request: Glaciershipping**

**Requested by: TheANIMEArtist02**

**Warnings: boyxboy**

**Pairings: Glacier (ColexZane)**

**AU: Mythical forest**

**A/N: I know you asked for a Hanakai AU, but the only information I could find was a manga, and one of my rules was no crossovers. I am happy to write Glacier, but if you still want a Hanakai AU, you either need to provide me with more information (fandom wikis, official sites, similar stories) or find someone else to write it for you.**

**Enchanted Encounter**

Zane hated America. He despised it. It was _nothing_ like England. It wasn't even _close_ to what his father had described! All the kids were mean to him and made fun of his accent, so he hated school. People tended to stare at his pale skin and light hair, which made him hate going out. Even the name of the region, New England, frustrated him. How dare this place pretend to be England when it couldn't even come close?!

"I'm going out!" Zane called to his father, Dr. Julien, and his little brother Echo.

"Don't go into the woods!" Dr. Julien answered absentmindedly from where he was working.

"Can I come!?" Echo asked, leaping up from where he was playing on the floor.

"No," Zane growled, and Echo slumped. Zane laid a hand on his little brother's shoulder, feeling guilty. "I promise you can come later, but I want to be alone right now."

"Oh," Echo pushed Zane's hand off him and looked away. "Go on your walk or whatever."

Zane opened his mouth to talk to his brother, but shut it immediately afterward, guilt exploding through him like a bomb. Echo wasn't a healthy kid. He was the reason they had moved to America in the first place.

Zane and Echo's mother died from Scarlet fever shortly after Echo was born, and Echo had it as a baby. Though he survived, he, unfortunately, never fully recovered. Dr. Julien had hoped that the New England air and American Medicine would help Echo recover, but the boy's future was still cloudy. Not to mention, Zane was unhappy in America. He tried to hide it, to be strong for his brother, but it was sometimes too much.

With a miserable sigh, Zane left his lighthouse home and headed down Birch Hill, towards the forest at the edge of the town. Falcon Harbor, New England, was a small town that was cloudy most of the year. It sat wedged between the gray ocean and the green mountains, silently judging it's immigrant residents.

Zane pulled his jacket closer around his thin body and turned off the gravel road to the lighthouse, towards the woods. His father had warned him not to go there, but where else was he to go? Town? People would just make fun of him for looking so weird.

No. The forest was better. Trees never judged you. Foxes and squirrels didn't make fun of your accent.

Fall leaves crunched under Zane's feet as he took a tentative, rebellious step into the woods. Nothing happened, so he continued further.

As he walked, however, the eerie sensation of being watched came over him. Zane glanced around anxiously, but no one was there. He took a deep breath, smelling the cool, leaf-scented November air, and continued on.

There it was again. That feeling of being watched. Frightened, Zane broke into a panicked run. Coming into the woods had been a bad, bad, bad idea.

A raven swooped down from a tree, scaring Zane even more. Jumping over a boulder, his foot caught on a root and Zane slipped down the rocky side of a gully.

Rubbing his aching head, Zane pulled himself off the forest floor and looked around anxiously. As he was expecting a dark, dingy gully, full of skeletons and blood, he was pleasantly surprised by the warm green hollow, filled with sunlight and bright green light.

Across the clearing, a chestnut stallion stood by the bank of a small pool, staring at Zane with an almost concerned expression on his face.

Zane relaxed. No doubt the horse had escaped from one of the surrounding farms, and he could probably ride it if he wanted to.

Pulling himself off the ground, Zane approached the horse. The fact that it didn't bolt confirmed his suspicion. The horse was tame.

The stallion whinnied a hello, and Zane smiled at him.

"Hello as well, friend," He answered, approaching the stallion, water sloshing around his ankles as he waded into the marsh towards the horse.

The stallion stepped towards Zane and stretched out his neck, almost as if he wanted Zane to pet him. Zane wasn't going to deny this beautiful creature that simple pleasure; as that would simply be cruel.

He reached a hand towards the stallion's shoulder-

"DON'T TOUCH THE HORSE!" A voice shouted, and a stone flew out and smacked Zane's hand away from the stallion's glistening coat. Zane looked up, surprised out of his trance.

At the edge of the hollow stood a centaur holding a slingshot. He had olive-toned skin, dark hair, and a powerfully built body. His broad neck was covered in several necklaces and amulets. The only thing was… his bottom half was a moose, causing him to stand at about nine feet tall. His head was adorned with massive ivory-white horns, another symbol of his moose heritage. He was holding a slingshot.

Shocked, Zane looked back to the stallion for comfort but was horrified by what he saw. Rather than seeing the majestic steed's chestnut coat, charcoal mane, and gentle brown eyes, he was met by the sight of a hideous monster. Tall and lanky, the horse had rotting, night-black skin and bristling fur. It's once soft mane was now stringy and salty as if it had been made by seaweed. Bright orange embers replaced the horse's gentle chocolate orbs.

Terrified, Zane stepped away from the creature, but before the horse could strike, Zane saw the centaur fly down the hill on split hooves to shield Zane from the sharp, vicious fangs of the monster.

"What is it?" Zane asked, scared and fascinated at the same time.

"Kai," The centaur snapped, folding his arms angrily. "I thought we agreed not to kill humans!"

To Zane's surprise, the horse collapsed into a gelatinous mass before re-forming into the shape of a boy not much older than Zane.

"Come _on_, Cole, he was just _asking for it_!" the boy called Kai snapped, stomping a foot in a very horse-like manner. To Zane's surprise, the horse-boy had a very slight Scottish lilt to his voice, as if he had lived in Scotland a long time ago.

The centaur called Cole snorted. "We made an agreement. If some human goes missing in the woods, then people will come looking for them and then we'll all die!"

Kai snorted like a horse. "That doesn't excuse the fact that he came to _my_ domain. I have every right to eat him!"

Cole rolled his eyes. "Just because he fell into your hollow doesn't mean you get to eat him. Actually try _hunting_ your prey for once rather than sitting around waiting for it to fall in love with you!"

"He's not in love with me!" Kai's eyes snapped with rage as he screamed at Cole. "_No one_ is in love with me! If anyone was in love with me, I'd have EATEN them by now!"

Cole rubbed his forehead. "Kai, you're being unreasonable."

Kai was trembling with rage but didn't answer Cole. Instead, he pointed over the centaur's broad shoulder to Zane and bared his still-sharp teeth.

"You come here again, and I. Will. EAT. YOU!" He snarled, before leaping into the pond and disappearing beneath the green-blue surface of the water.

Cole sighed and turned to face Zane, muttering about the 'Stupid Kelpie' under his breath. "You okay there?"

Zane nodded, a little dazed. "Yes, of course. Thank you for rescuing me."

The centaur shrugged. "Yeah, sure." He smiled at Zane gently. "I'm Cole."

"Nice to meet you, Cole," Zane nodded. "I am Zane."

"Cool," Cole answered with a chuckle. "Sorry about Kai. he's kind of aggressive." He turned and began walking up the side of the hollow, Zane beside him, calm now that the danger had passed.

"What was he?" Zane asked Cole, and the centaur sighed.

"He's a Kelpie," Cole sighed. "Scottish Water horse. They lure humans onto their backs and drown them. Not really a creature you'd want to mess with."

Horror spiked through Zane. "Do they… eat… humans?"

Cole shrugged. "Not always. Mostly they eat deer and cattle. Kai is just… unnaturally mean."

"He looked sad," Zane commented. "Maybe he was angry about something that happened that has nothing to do with us."

Cole looked thoughtful. "Huh. I never thought about it that way, but I guess you're right," They had come to the edge of the hollow. "You're pretty observant."

Zane felt a blush creeping up his cheeks and turned his head, looking away from Cole. "Thank you."

Cole stared up at the cliffs surrounding the hollow, then down at Zane. "Need a lift?"

Zane looked up at the steep cliffs then over at Cole. "You aren't going to drown me, are you?"

"What?" Cole asked. "Of course not, but I don't think that your short human legs will be useful for trying to climb the cliff."

"Oh," Zane nodded. "Of course."

Cole kneeled down gently, folding his legs beneath him. Sitting on the forest floor, the centaur was closer to Zane's height. Stepping closer to the fae, Zane carefully climbed onto Cole's back, straddling him like a massive horse. Cole carefully stood up, being gentle as not to knock the small human riding him to the ground.

"Hold onto my shoulders," He advised, beginning his ascent of the hill.

Zane placed his hands on Cole's muscular shoulders and leaned into the centaur's broad back.

"What were you doing in the woods anyway?" Cole asked, puffing a little from the exertion of climbing the hill.

"Exploring," Zane confessed. "I desired to be alone."

Cole chucked. "Well, that didn't work."

Zane found himself laughing alongside Cole. "I suppose it didn't."

Cole broke out into a gentle canter, Zane gripping his shoulders a little tighter. The centaur flew through the woods, passing scrubby berry bushes and rocky outcroppings. He continued up out of the deciduous forest and into a copse of pine trees.

Cole paused at the edge of a cliff, and for a terrifying second, Zane thought Cole was going to throw him over. Then Cole sat down at the edge of the cliff, folding his legs underneath him. Zane climbed off his back and sat down next to the centaur.

Before them lay the entire town of Falcon Harbor, spread out beneath the gray sky. Zane's sharp eyes quickly found the general store, post office, and then… the school. He looked away, embarrassing memories of kids making fun of him climbing to the front of his brain.

"Everything alright?" Cole asked, and Zane started. He had forgotten the centaur was there.

"Yes, just thinking," Zane answered, gazing back at the town. "Kids down there… are not the kindest. Some of them… make fun of me."

"I get it," Cole answered, and Zane looked up, startled. "The other Fae, the ones in this wood, I mean, they're not always nice."

"The Fae like Kai?" Zane asked.

"Sorta," Cole answered. "But Kai's outright brutal and hates everyone. Some of the other Fae are really mean in other ways."

"I know," Zane sighed and found himself leaning against the centaur's soft coat. He inhaled, smelling the scents of forest and pinecones that perfumed Cole. He sighed again, filling his lungs with the crisp forest air and blowing it out in a big breath. "They think I'm strange because I don't have… a… mother."

"I get it," Cole answered, leaning over to rub Zane's shoulders and pulling the human into a soft hug. "I really do."

"Do you?" Zane asked, turning to look up at the centaur's gentle brown eyes.

Cole looked away for a moment, then rubbed Zane's shoulders. "Yeah. My mom- she died a few months ago. From the foaming-at-the-mouth sickness. That's why my dad and I moved here. Too many painful memories."

Zane felt empathy seep into his chest, and he gently began to stroke the centaur's fur. Cole's flank quivered softly, and Zane pressed his cheek into the fluffy coat. "My mother died when I was little- four or five- from Scarlet fever, and my little brother is sick, so we came to America, but I hate it here and, and," Zane embarrassingly found himself breaking off into heaving sobs.

Cole scooped up the small human and cradled him close. "Shhh, hey, hey, it's okay, it's okay, Zane."

Zane wiped his tears away with the heel of his hand. "I'm sorry."

Cole pushed the human's hands away and began to wipe Zane's tears himself, gently soothing the sad boy. "Don't be sorry. That's what friends are for."

A pang of longing shot through Zane, and he looked away from Cole, the word 'friend' still ringing in his ears. He shook it off and looked back up at Cole.

"Speaking of which," Zane started. "Are there any other creatures in the forest I should be wary of?"

Cole set him back down gently, then began to count off on his fingers with a thoughtful expression. "Well there's Kai, obviously, and there's Lloyd, he's a Chinese dragon, but won't eat you or anything. Then there's a white wolf named Akita, who you should probably avoid, a colony of Indian Naga, who you should _definitely _avoid, a unicorn named Harumi, and at one point there was a gargoyle named Clouse who lived here, but I'll have to double-check if he's still here or if he went back to France."

"Why should I avoid the unicorn?" Zane asked Cole curiously.

"She's a trickster," Cole explained. "And a heartbreaker. Not worth it, trust me."

Zane nodded. "Are those all the Fae that live here?"

Cole sighed, slumping. "Unfortunately, no. We have tree nymphs, stream naiads, two gryphons, a European dragon, a couple of harpies, and a particularly annoying saytar named Jay. All of them are harmless, however. It's really the Kelpie and the Naga you should watch out for."

Zane nodded in understanding, curling back into Cole, then glancing out over the town. The edges of the sky had begun to fade to a soft salmon color, and Zane started.

"You okay?" Cole asked, looking down at the small human cuddled into him.

"The time!" Zane exclaimed, scrambling to his feet. "I… I have to get home!"

"Can I give you a lift?" Cole asked, shifting his legs out from around him. "You live down at the old lighthouse, right?"

"Yes," Zane answered. "Thank you." Once again, he climbed onto the centaur's broad back, and Cole took off at a hearty gallop down the hills, flying past shrubs and bushes, and leaping over boulders.

Zane held fast to Cole's shoulders, but watched the forest around him, curiously looking for any of the Fae Cole had previously mentioned. He was not disappointed.

A pale-skinned girl melted away from a birch tree and ran to talk to a black-haired girl made from water. A saytar with a slingshot ran alongside them for a while, chasing a cottontail rabbit. A unicorn leaped a fallen log, escaping the sharp talons of a russet-black gryphon.

Zane smiled as Cole slowed to a stop at the edge of the woods and knelt down so he could climb off.

"Thank you for the afternoon," Zane thanked the centaur, and Cole smiled at him, lifting a driftwood necklace from his neck and placing it around Zane's.

"If you need me again," Cole said softly. "Whisper to me using the amulet. I'll hear you, I promise."

"Oh," Zane sighed, staring at the small chunk of driftwood in his hand, stroking its silky surface with one hand. "Thank you."

Cole leaned down and suddenly hugged Zane, grabbing him close and cradling him, as he was precious. "You're welcome, Zane."

Zane smiled warmly and relaxed against the centaur, before Cole pulled away and disappeared into the woods, leaving the quiet boy alone at the edge of the forest.

Stroking the amulet with one hand, Zane grinned towards the woods, before he turned to the lighthouse, armed for the battle of life with the love of another.

* * *

**A/N: I know it's not **_**exactly**_ **what you asked for, but can we all take a moment to appreciate how cute glacier is?**

**Requests are still closed. ;)**

***EDIT: It has come to my attention that I have misidentified New England as a state, when, in fact, it is a region. I have corrected this, and I apologize if you were offended.**


	19. Fire, Fire, Burning Bright

**Request: Kailor fireman AU**

**Requested by: allthosechickens (guest)**

**Warnings: none**

**Pairings: Kailor**

**Fire, Fire, Burning Bright**

When the bell rang, nineteen-year-old Kai was the first to respond.

His hometown, Ignacia, didn't have many official firefighters, so their fire department was a combination of official career fighters and volunteers such as himself. Kai's father, Ray, was an official firefighter. Today was a boring, but good day. Kai was lounging in the firehouse, Adam, Robert, and Jamie were situated on the couch. The three older men were currently focused on their game of Crash Bro's.

Ray was sitting beside Kai, texting an old friend. Kai was currently bored out of his mind, disinterested with the shooting game on his phone, and was lazily staring at the ceiling.

The firehouse was surprisingly calm, as it usually was. Though Adam, Robert, and Jamie were all closer to his father's age than his own, Kai liked the firehouse. It was the only place where adults treated him like a fellow adult and not a child playing dress-up.

His phone buzzed, and Kai looked down at the screen. It was from his little sister, Nya.

_Yo, mom and I r goin to that noodle place, do u or dad want takeout?_

Kai glanced at Ray. "Dad?"

"Mm?" Ray answered, not looking up from his phone. He drummed his fingers on the table, waiting for a response.

"Nya and Maya are going to that Noodle place, and they want to know if we want anything," Kai checked the news on his phone idly.

"Call your mother by her proper title, Kai," Ray answered absentmindedly. "Tell them to ask if they have anything spicy."

"Okay," Kai sighed, tapping out the answer, then he plugged in his earbuds and opened the Interflix app, choosing an animated movie to watch.

A while later, still watching the movie, Kai didn't realize the bell had gone off until Ray tapped his shoulder. "KAI?"

Kai yanked his earbuds out and dropped his phone. "What?"

"We got a call," Robert filled in for him. "C'mon, kid."

Kai leapt up from the table and rushed to the gear room with the other guys, all of them scrambling to get suited up. He started with the thick boots and overalls, pulling them over his blue jeans and then moving to the jacket. Finally, he placed his hat on and pulled on his belt.

Ray had rolled up the hoses and climbed into the truck. Kai was quick to follow, scrambling into the backseat and grabbing his oxygen tank, clipping it on. Jessie and Adam climbed in beside him (Kai had to sit in the middle because he was the smallest). Robert climbed in the front seat and they were off, sirens blaring.

"What kind of call is it?" Jessie asked, accidentally shoving Kai while pulling on his pack in the cramped backseat of the truck.

"Some building on Bionicle street caught fire," Robert answered, fiddling with the dashboard. "I think it was a restaurant."

Kai glanced out the window at a nearby park, where several teens his age were playing an impromptu game of Flag Football. If Kai hadn't decided to be a firefighter… would he be over there with them right now? Playing in the warm sunlight?

Looking towards the horizon, Kai watched the billowing black clouds of smoke creep into the sky like a lazy dragon. Taking a deep breath, he prepared himself for the sight of the building. Even though he'd responded to seven calls in the past six months since he'd turned eighteen, watching a charred building belch ugly black smoke into the cool blue sky still sent chills down his spine.

Pulling up to the building, Kai stared a moment. The outer shell of the building was still intact, as was most of the storefront, but smoke was billowing out of holes in the roof, and a crowd had gathered around the building, watching.

Scrambling from the truck, Ray and the others ran towards the back of the tanker, unwinding the hose. Kai scanned the crowd until he saw a man looking at the building devastated. Pushing through the crowd, he approached the man.

"Excuse me," He asked, and the man looked up, his pale eyes ringed with red. Kai swallowed. "Are you the owner of 70749 Bionicle street?"

"Yes, I am," He answered, looking back at the building anxiously. "It's my restaurant. The name's Chen."

Kai glanced at the building. "Is… everything alright?"

"No," Chen half-shouted. "My daughter, she's still trapped inside!"

Horror crept through Kai as he imagined a little girl, seven or eight, trapped inside the burning building. His firefighter instincts kicked in. "What's her name?" He started with. "How old is she? What does she look like?"

Chen wiped his eyes with his long, Asian-style sleeves. "Her name is Skylor. She just turned eighteen two weeks ago. She's about five foot three, with red hair and tanned skin. She was wearing a white v-neck t-shirt and an orange cardigan with a pair of jeans."

"Thanks," Kai answered, before taking a deep breath and looking up at the building. He grabbed his radio, opening the channel. "Dad, there's someone still inside the building, I'm headed in. Over."

Ray answered quickly, his normally sound voice crackling over the static of the radio. "Be safe. Call if you need assistance. Over."

Kai took a deep breath of smokey air before he put his breathing tube over his mouth and entered the building. Shoving open the half-melted glass door, he pulled a flashlight and a hatchet from his belt, using them to look around the burning interior of the restaurant.

No girl.

Taking a breath through his filtration tubes, Kai looked around the room, finally spying a burned door with a melting sign on the door that read 'Employee Break Room'. There!

Running through the rubble and smoke, Kai finally got to the door. Using the hatchet, he smashed it open, then he shoved aside the charring door. Looking around the room, he was slightly horrified, scared he was going to find a burned human body. Instead, all he saw was a lot of smoke and an empty room.

Well, not a completely empty room.

Sprawled out on the floor, as if she had been trying to escape, pinned down by a stack of chairs, was the girl. Her red hair was sprayed out like a firework, and her lightly tanned skin was red from the heat. She was coughing hard.

Kai took a breath and approached her. Laying her on her back, he placed his own hands on her shoulders. "Are you Skylor Chen?" He asked in a clear voice, trying to ignore the sinking feeling in his stomach that he got every time he saw a fire victim. All his heart could scream was _you failed, you failed, you failed._

She coughed but weakly opened her hazel eyes to look up at him. "Go…" she rasped.

Kai stiffened, and moved her into an easier position so she could breathe. "What?"

"Insurance," She whispered. "My father… needed money…" her words dissolved into a horrible coughing fit as she curled into a ball, her body pressing against Kai's legs.

Insurance money? Was this some sort of scam?

Kai looked around the room. No, the restaurant was definitely on fire. Insurance or not, If he didn't get Skylor out of here, she could die.

He zoned in on a window and focused for a moment, before standing up and moving the stack of chairs pinning Skylor and hurling one at the window, which shattered into a million little bits and pieces.

Leaning down, he gently lifted the eighteen-year-old by slinging one of her arms over his shoulders and standing gingerly. She whimpered, her eyes clotting with tears.

Kai's heart went out to her. He'd been in many burning buildings before but as a trained firefighter. Poor Skylor was in here because of a stroke of bad luck, and she must be terrified.

Focusing on the window, he limped towards it, dragging Skylor with him. Just as they almost made it, however, there was a loud shout and the ceiling collapsed, blocking off their exit.

Kai stumbled back, coughing, as his oxygen had just about run out. The building had just… collapsed? By itself? But… that wall wasn't… how the… never mind that. Kai shook his head so hard his spiky brunette hair, now plastered to his forehead and neck with sweat, came loose and almost went spiky again.

Taking Skylor in his arms, he shook her again. This time, she opened her eyes and looked at him weakly. "Are you… firefighter?"

Kai nodded. "Listen. Do everything that I say and we might be able to make it out of here alive."

Skylor looked at him for a moment before she nodded hard. "Okay… what?"

"Just follow my lead," Kai answered, motioning for her to crouch down behind him. Taking a breath of the fresher air on the floor, he began to crawl through the room back towards the open dining area. After he got through the burned door, he paused, reaching around to help Skylor through the door.

She didn't need his help and was right behind him, a hand on the toes of his boots so she could feel where he was even when she couldn't see him. Together, the two of them made their way towards the glass restaurant door, but too late did Kai realize that it was melted so badly the frame had collapsed.

Panic exploded through him. He and Skylor were trapped in the building. They were stuck. He wasn't going to see Nya and his mom again. He wasn't going to go to college, or get a degree. He wasn't going to grow up and get married. He wasn't going to have kids or grandkids. He was going to die here, in the building.

Turning to Skylor, he lay a hand on hers, pulling her up beside him.

"What is it?" She rasped, coughing slightly.

"There's nowhere to go," He whispered, gritty smoke coating his teeth and tongue, making him gag. "We're trapped."

Skylor's eyes widened. "No… there's gotta be a way…"

"There's not," Kai coughed again. "We're gonna die."

Skylor slumped to the floor, her cheeks wet with tears. Kai couldn't tell whether she was sad or her body was reacting to the smoke, but he lay down beside her and grabbed her close to him. He hadn't been entirely honest with her earlier. One of them was going to make it out alive. He shifted, pulling her against his fireproof jacket. This way, even if he died, she could breathe through the cloth, and it would protect her face and chest from the worst of the burns.

"I'm sorry," Skylor whispered softly.

"It's my job," Kai answered, looking around the fire eating through the kitchen door. He likely only had a few minutes left. "I save people from fires."

"No…" Skylor rasped in response. "My dad… you'll die for no reason… it's an... Insurance scam."

Kai gasped then immediately regretted it. "An… insurance scam?"

Skylor nodded against him. "He was going to kill me for insurance money."

Kai's blood ran cold. The friendly restaurant owner he had met outside the store wasn't what he seemed… what kind of man would kill his daughter for money?!

"I'm sorry," Skylor whispered. "I'm so, so, sorry."

Kai curled tighter, glancing at the ceiling. "It's not your fault."

He felt her poke his arm. "You keep telling yourself that, … -gosh- I never learned your name. What is your name?"

Kai looked back at the ceiling. It was unnaturally unstable, and would probably collapse on them. For that, he was grateful. He'd much rather die by being crushed than by slowly asphyxiating in the dingy restaurant.

He smiled slightly. "My name's Kai."

And then the sky came crashing down.

?

Blip.

Blip.

Blip.

The sound of a heart monitor crept through the chilly darkness to annoy Kai. He took a deep breath in, relaxing when he could no longer smell smoke. He blinked slightly, seeing blurry shapes and the white ceiling of the room he was in. Taking a deep breath, he noted the oxygen trickling under his nose and the machines around him beeping. There was some sort of greasy salve on his arms, and it hurt to hold his eyes open.

"He's awake," Someone noted, and there was a flurry of movement to his right.

Kai was vaguely aware of someone taking his hand, and after blinking a few times, and after his bed was raised, he realized it was his mother. Ray was to his left, and Nya was watching from the foot of his bed.

"Kai, can you hear me?" Maya asked, reaching to brush her hand over his forehead.

Ray intercepted her. "Careful, love, he's still pretty burned."

Kai took a breath and managed to rasp a sentence. "What happened?"

"Uh…" Nya glanced at their parents. "An entire building collapsed on you?"

Kai managed to choke out a laugh, even though it sounded more like he was trying to clear a living frog from his throat. "I know. What else happened?"

"It appears Mr. Chen was trying to scam his insurance company," Ray explained. "When you entered the building to save his daughter, some of his compensated workers pulled down the walls surrounding the exits and trapped you both inside."

Kai blinked slowly, taking all this in. "It hurts to blink," He whispered.

"You were burned pretty badly," Maya explained, brushing away some of her son's hair. "On your eyelids and your right hip." She sucked in a breath and took Kai's hand again. "I'm so sorry, Kai. I shouldn't have let you go to work with your father-"

"Mom," Kai rasped, squeezing her hand. "I fight fires. I was bound to get hurt eventually."

"We thought you were going to die," Nya cut in bluntly, folding her arms across her chest. "The doctors said you only had a fifty percent chance of making it because you almost smothered."

Kai blinked, then winced. "...Sorry?"

Nya moved to stand by her mother and punched Kai's forearm playfully (and gently, because she wasn't going to be cruel for no reason). "You're good, just don't do it again."

Kai tried to grin at her, but it hurt too badly. He took a deep breath. "Whatever happened to Skylor?"

"Chen's daughter?" Ray asked. "You saved her life, Kai. She had a few cuts and scrapes, but nothing as serious as you."

"Can I see her?" Kai twitched his leg, making sure it still worked. "Please?"

"I'll ask the nurse," Maya answered. "But we do have to get home soon, Kai. Nya?"

Nya followed Maya out of Kai's room, muttering about how this was 'no way to properly get a girlfriend.' Kai rolled his eyes.

Ray clapped his shoulder gently. "You did good today, son."

Kai managed a small smile. "Thanks, Dad."

"But I'd understand if you don't want to fight fires any longer," Ray added. "It's okay to say that you're done. You can try Maya's plumbing business, or go into cars like my dad or…" He trailed off. "My point is, you don't have to keep doing this."

Kai shook his head. "Dad, I love firefighting. I don't want to stop."

Ray smiled. "There's my boy."

A nurse walked in carrying a chair. She smiled at them. "Glad to see you're up, Mr. Smith," She said to Kai. Walking out again, she eventually came back leading Skylor.

She waved slightly when she caught sight of Kai, and he smiled at her as she sat down. Ray gave Kai a knowing wink and left the room.

Skylor looked at her fingers. "Hey."

Kai blinked, then winced. "Hello."

"I, um, I wanted to thank you," Skylor said, looking up at him. Their eyes met. "I mean because you saved my life."

"But of course, my lady," Kai joked playfully."

Skylor smiled.

"Look, I'm glad you're okay," Kai added. "But… really? Your father tried to end your life?"

"He'll go to jail," Skylor answered. "I've filled out a police report, and Mr. Julien is a fair judge. There's no way I'll go back with him."

Kai smiled. "That's great."

"It is what it is," Skylor answered with a shrug.

Kai bit his lip. "Hey, I was wondering, when we get out of the hospital, do you want to… go for coffee?"

Skylor smiled shyly. "I'd like that if you wouldn't mind it."

"Of course I wouldn't," Kai smiled at her. "I'd love to get to know you better."

"You too," Skylor added. "Speaking of which," She glanced at the clock. "We have some time now…?"

Kai grinned. "Duh."

* * *

**A/N: See, I finally got around to it!**

**Requests are still closed ;).**

**Update April 29th: Hey guys, I'm struggling with heavy panic attacks lately and the next chapter might be a bit late. Thanks for your understanding.**


	20. Tired

**Hi there! ;) Just wanted to let you know that REQUESTS ARE NOW OPEN! Before you request, however, please, please, **_**please**_**, look through the rules in Chapter One. Any requests that disobey said rules **_**WILL BE IGNORED**_**.**

**Request: KaixSkylorxLloyd Doomsday Cult based on the Alan Walker song 'Tired'.**

**Requested by: Haha, no one! ;)**

**Warnings: Three-way ship, if you're uncomfortable, then don't read it.**

**Pairings: Kailor-Greenflame (Greenkailor, I think)**

**WARNING: This story includes a romance between **_**three**_ **characters. If such material makes you uncomfortable, this is your warning to leave now. Thanks ;).**

**A/N: Heads up, you should probably watch the music video for 'Tired' before reading this, as it's not a songfic, and it will likely make little sense otherwise. Also note that this is kind of based on **_**The Legend Of Zelda: Majora's Mask**_**.**

**Also, Skylor's story during dinner is based on my story '**_**Merry Christmas From Chen's Island**_**.' You don't need to read it, but I'd appreciate it if you did. :D**

**Tired**

Lloyd's world was grey.

It had been like that for weeks now, from the sky, the earth, the buildings of Ninjago City, even the clothes he and the other Members wore, that covered their faces and shielded their identities. Everything was shades of grey.

Skylor pulled an abandoned fishing harpoon from the sheath on her back and looked around, suspicious. "You're clear, Lloyd." She hissed under her breath. "Take it."

Lloyd nodded and pulled a screwdriver from his bag. Turning to the base of the light pole, he jammed the phillip's head screwdriver into the screws, wrestling them out. He glanced anxiously as he tore off the cover of the electrical panel.

Skylor glanced at him. "Sheesh, you're really tense. Try and relax, Lloyd. Just get the converter."

"Easy for you to say," Lloyd mumbled, clipping a pair of wires. "You're not the one who's going to get electrocuted if they fail."

"Focus," She advised, twisting her harpoon around. She and Kai had found it at the docks while searching for scrap metal, and it had quickly become her preferred weapon. Lloyd disliked the sharp, hooked point. It looked like it would really, really, hurt to get hit with.

As he worked, Lloyd's mind wandered to Kai, his other lover, who was currently back at the Building with the other Members, preparing for the solar flare that was about to hit. The converter he was looking for was going to help power a box of drones, the machines the Members had been creating for years, and they would store themselves away from thousands of years for future generations to find.

This was all part of Wu's plan. Wu was the leader of the group, and he was rather firm in many cases but kind. He was the one who rescued Lloyd from his abusive father and absent mother. And this was the greatest thing Lloyd could do to repay him. To stick to the Plan.

The flare would undoubtedly kill all of them, but with Wu's plan, some of the technology would survive to the next generation.

Pulling the converter from the light pole, he shoved it into his bag and buttoned it up. "I'm done," He looked over at Skylor, who was fingering the gold ring on her harpoon. It had taken Lloyd weeks to scrounge up enough metal for it, but when he had watched Kai pound it out and fasten it to Skylor's harpoon, something happy had bubbled inside of him.

The same thing happened every time Kai kissed him or he snuggled with Skylor, or when they compared the rings on their hands.

"Ready to go?" Skylor asked, still holding her harpoon in her left hand, but she offered Lloyd her right, which he took.

"Yeah," He answered as the two of them made their way back to the Building. "Hey, Skylor, are you worried about the solar flare?"

Skylor squeezed his hand comfortingly. "Should I be? If we follow Wu's Plan, we don't need to worry, right?"

"I mean, about yourself?" Lloyd asked, glancing at her ring finger, where one of her two ring tattoos rested against his hand. The tattoos were a tradition. When people wished to be wed, tattoos were given to all parties. Lloyd had two tattoos, one for Skylor and one for Kai. Both of them also had two tattoos, just to show that they were all one big group of lovers. It was a special thing, as group marriages were not common.

Skylor fingered her harpoon and glanced suspiciously at two hustlers who were stealing what looked like an old refrigerator. As soon as they passed, she spoke. "Sort of. I mean, no one really wants to die. But if that's what has to happen, I mean, I'm not opposed to it. Does that answer your question?"

"Mmmm… not really," Lloyd answered, looking at his nails. He sighed heavily. "It's just… I don't know what to do anymore. I'm… scared."

Skylor looked at him for a long moment. "I… don't know what to tell you." She sighed almost as heavily as him. "Maybe you could talk to Kai when we get back?"

"I'll do that," Lloyd realized that Skylor had a hard time expressing emotions, as she had a hard childhood, but he was still grateful to her for helping.

As the two of them emerged from an alleyway, Lloyd looked up at the sky, watching the spreading orange cloud across the horizon. The solar flare was coming. He checked his watch. Sure enough, they had about twelve hours until it hit.

Skylor looked up at it as well, awe on her face. "It's kind of beautiful, isn't it?"

Lloyd smiled. "Yeah. I could watch it all day."

She laughed in response, tugging on his hand gently. "We don't have all day. Kai needs that converter if he's going to finish the Project."

Lloyd smiled again, following her into an alleyway between buildings. The whole city was deserted, mostly because of people trying to escape the Flare. He could undoubtedly feel a warm sense of excitement rise in his chest as they neared the building. His monkey-brain/primal instincts were screeching at him "We get to see Kai! Kai! Kai! Kai!"

Skylor hopped into the open window of a deserted insurance building, holding out an arm and helping Lloyd up into the cool interior of the building. Together, they made their way through the destroyed cubicles and shattered glass, before finally finding the stairwell.

Together, they found their way to the roof of the building, then, using a pair of long PVC pipes, they climbed across three more buildings, eventually finding the abandoned shell of Borg Electronics in front of them, a few long fishing ropes stretching to the lower floors of the building. The Members didn't use the higher floors, as they were rather unnecessary, instead, everything from the Mess Hall to the Sleeping Quarters, to the Control Room, and even the Forge were located between floors three and seven.

As they entered the abandoned but well-kept building, Skylor reached for Lloyd's hand, looking for comfort. Lloyd took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. Skylor wasn't usually claustrophobic, but the cramped quarters of Borg Electronics made her nervous.

Suddenly, she paused, just outside of the bright blue-gray light from the sky. With a scared sigh, she gripped her head.

Lloyd tugged her closer. "You okay?" He whispered, his voice barely carrying in the cool tunnel.

Skylor noded, taking a few deep breaths. "Yeah, just… my dad…" She squeezed her eyes shut tighter and reached out with a free hand into the darkness, feeling the open air. Taking another breath, she opened her eyes and led the way down the tunnel.

"Why do you always do that?" Lloyd asked as they squeezed past two Members. "And… you've never told me about your dad."

"Yeah…" Skylor trailed off. "When I was… really little, my dad would sometimes lock me…" She swallowed. "In a closet. When I misbehaved."

"Sky-"

"It's stupid, I know, but if Kai's allowed to be afraid of water, and you're allowed to be afraid of snakes then-"

"SKY!" Lloyd pulled her hand to get her attention. She looked up at him with mildly surprised eyes. Lloyd sighed. "Look, I don't think it's stupid. I think it's completely valid that you're afraid of something."

Skylor smiled at him slightly, pain still brimming in her eyes. "Okay?"

They began walking again.

"Look," Lloyd sighed. "I'm serious. It's okay to be scared of stuff. I'm scared of stuff. Kai's scared of stuff. Why would it be reasonable for you to not be scared of something?"

Skylor sighed. "I… don't know. I guess your fears seem a lot more… concrete… I guess. It seems reasonable for you to be scared of snakes. But not… small spaces."

She sucked in a big breath of air and blinked slowly. "Just… forget it, okay. We're going to die in twelve hours anyway. It doesn't matter anymore."

"Hey," Lloyd reached over to give her a side hug, stopping them in the process. "It matters to me, and it matters to Kai too. Alright?"

Skylor wrapped an arm around his shoulders, gently prying him off her. "Okay, Green Bean. Let's go find Kai."

As they descended towards Floor Three, the pair passed more and more people. Their sister-in-law, Nya, and her boyfriend Jay walked past them, Jay carrying a freshly molded Wu-Cru insignia in his gloved hands. Nya gave Lloyd a fistbump as they passed since there was no time to stop and chat.

Scurrying after them was Karlof, one of the smiths who had first created the boxes that would house the project. He was carrying three massive plates of steel. Right after him came Stevie and Tyler, both struggling under the weight of a massive box of tools, but as they dragged themselves along, another Member, Chamille, ran to help.

Lloyd and Skylor entered the surprisingly-empty forge, filled only with a few random ovens and tools, as well as several workstations, only three of which were filled. Moving past the first two workers, Lloyd and Skylor came upon Kai, who was currently welding something together. Pausing for a break, he set his blowtorch down, lifted his mask, and wiped his brow. Looking up, Kai spotted Lloyd and Skylor standing at a reasonable distance. His face immediately lit up and he grinned, dropping his tools and running over to embrace them.

Kai snatched up Lloyd first, hugging him tightly while lifting the shorter boy off the ground. Lloyd could feel Kai plant a hello kiss on his cheek before he was set down. "First Spinjitzu _Master_ I missed you guys!"

Skylor got a hug directly after, this time getting the chance to hold onto Kai for a little while, before he reached out, snagged Lloyd's thin waist, and dragged him into the hug as well. Lloyd sighed with happiness, and inhaled deeply, smelling Kai's molten-iron smell and Skylor's almost natural scent intermingling into something that smelled like home.

All three of them finally pulled away, and Kai arched his back, stretching. He smiled at Lloyd with his handsome smile. "Did you get the converter?"

"We did," Skylor answered for Lloyd. "It's in his bag."

Lloyd nodded, grinning, as he pulled out the converter. "Is this the right one?"

Kai took it from him and looked it over. "Yeah, this is great. I'm gonna put it in. You guys want to hang out?"

"Sure," Lloyd answered, looking over at Skylor, who had grabbed two of the random chairs against the wall. The two of them sat down, with Lloyd in between Kai and Skylor. Kai handed him a mask to shield his face (it didn't fit).

Using the blowtorch, Kai loosely welded the Converter onto the base of the box. Finishing neatly, he pulled his mask off. "That should do it."

"That's… it?" Lloyd asked. "You're not gonna attach the wires?"

"Engineer's job," Kai answered with a shrug. "I'll take it up to them later."

"I got it," Skylor jumped in. "You two spend some time together. I'll take it up to floor four."

"Really?" Kai asked, smiling.

Skylor shrugged. "We only have twelve hours left. I'll see you guys at dinner."

Kai made eye contact with Lloyd, smiling. "Okay, if you're sure." He pulled off his thick synthetic-leather gloves and handed them to Skylor, who pulled them on and picked up the box, grunting with the effort.

"Do you need help?" Lloyd looked over as Skylor adjusted the heavy box.

"No," She answered. "I got it. You guys have fun."

She met Chamille at the door, and the two of them headed towards the staircase. Kai and Lloyd watched them go before turning back to one another.

Kai stretched. "You wanna head upstairs? I could use a shower."

Lloyd yawned slightly. "Sounds good to me. How long have you been working on that anyway?"

Kai rolled his eyes playfully. "I only pulled _two_ all-nighters." His face became more serious as they took the only working elevator up to floor six, the floor with several rooms and bathrooms. "In all seriousness, I'm glad it's over, though."

Lloyd couldn't help but add 'so will everything else' afterward in his brain, but shook his head, trying to forget the morbid thought.

"Hey, Lloyd? Are you okay?" Kai pulled Lloyd into a side-hug as they walked down a hallway. "You zoned out for a minute."

Lloyd shook his head again. "I'm fine, just thinking."

"About…" Kai trailed off but nodded towards the window.

Lloyd bit his lip as they entered their room. "Yeah. About death." He sat down on one of the floor pillows and rubbed his midsection, trying to rid himself of the sick feeling all through his torso. "I just… I'm…. I'm so scared."

Kai pulled another pillow over and sat down beside Lloyd, pulling his partner into a hug. Lloyd sniffled, then buried his face in Kai's chest. Kai snuggled him tightly. "Hey, if you want, we can take some sleeping pills and be asleep when it happens. That's what Jay and Nya are doing."

"I… I don't really want to do that," Lloyd confessed. "It feels too weak for me. I want to be awake when it happens."

Kai rubbed his back, massaging Lloyd's shoulders. "I think Skylor wants to watch it happen. Not that what she wants has anything to do with you, but…"

"Yeah," Lloyd pulled back a bit, but rested his ear on Kai's chest, listening to the brunette's steady heartbeat. "I… I just… never thought…"

"You'd get to pick how you'd die?" Kai asked. "Yeah, me neither." He sighed. "To be honest with you," He sucked in a deep breath, muttered something about 'oh, what could it hurt' and spoke again. "I'm scared too. Cursed Realm, I'm scared for you and Skylor. I'm scared for Nya and Jay. I'm scared the Plan won't work. But… we're still going to die, no matter what we want to happen."

Lloyd wriggled a bit. He sighed deeply. "You're worried about the Plan?"

"Duh," Kai shrugged. "Why shouldn't I be. I've spent upwards of six weeks on that dang machine. That's time I could've spent with you and Skylor. Time I could've spent with my sister, or mourning my parents. I'm just as scared as you are. Skylor is too, she's just… stupidly good at hiding it."

"Did she tell you she's claustrophobic because of her dad?" Lloyd asked, switching the conversation. "Like how he used to lock her in the closet when she misbehaved."

Kai laughed bitterly. "I actually met the old snake. Yeah, he was a son of a grundle. Poor Skylor."

"What if…" Lloyd started, as the idea sprang to his head. "What if we were outside when the Flare hit?"

Kai looked at Lloyd, thinking heavily. "Well… we'd probably be burned alive. It would be quick, yeah, but it'd really hurt. Why?"

"Just curious," Lloyd answered. "I was thinking… we could go up on the roof and watch the flare hit. I… I think that's what would be best for all of us."

"You think?" Kai asked, pouring two cups of lavender tea, handing one to Lloyd and taking one for himself.

"I… kind of want to watch," Lloyd admitted sheepishly. "Not to mention I think Skylor would be a lot happier dying in the open air rather than inside. And we could bring some photos of our families if you want."

"Huh," Kai took a long drink of his tea. "That could actually be really cool. Wait," He looked down at himself. "I still have to shower, Lloyd. Are you gonna be okay here?"

Lloyd smiled. "Yeah. I was thinking of taking a short nap if that's okay. I'm… really tired."

"I get it," Kai answered, standing up and stretching. He took a final sip of tea before he left the room, entering the bathroom that connected to their room. Lloyd smiled when he heard the rush of water and Kai's happy humming.

Opening a dresser beside the bed, Lloyd pulled out his sleep clothes, a short-sleeved shirt and loose pants made from green imitation silk by his great-aunt, Mystake. Though most of the members wore gray or white while asleep, Lloyd was allowed green as long as he never wore it around other members.

The whole purpose, Lloyd thought as he washed his face and hands in the washbasin, was to provide a sense of equality among the members. Kai and Skylor both wore gray and white, although Skylor preferred lighter colors. Lloyd laid out Kai's gray pants just in case Kai wanted to join him before he crawled into bed.

Falling asleep was hard. Lloyd stared at the ceiling, waiting for the familiar slideshow of images to begin playing through his mind. He remembered his father, who he was afraid of his entire life, then he remembered his mother, who, though she was often absent, never made it unclear that she still loved him. Brad and Gene, his friends from grade school, sprang to his mind next. He'd lost contact with them after he graduated early from secondary school in order to move in with the Members (They'd been smaller back then, living in a few cabins at an old church camp Wu had purchased). Lloyd had lost contact with his grade-school buddies, but a part of him would always wonder what happened to them. Would they get away? Would things turn out for them? Who knew. Not that it mattered, but he couldn't help but wonder.

Next, his thoughts wandered to Kai. Kai and his sister Nya had arrived at the camp a few weeks before Wu relocated everyone to an abandoned motel right outside Ninjago City. Lloyd had felt instantly drawn to the sibling pair. Kai's loud, confident personality and good looks attracted a lot of Members, but out of all of them, he had chosen Lloyd to befriend. As with any healthy relationship, theirs started with a simple friendship.

After Kai, Lloyd's thoughts always wandered to Skylor. Kai and Lloyd had been the ones who recruited her after they found her on the docks. She had gladly joined in order to escape her abusive father and druggie family. Together, she grew closer to Kai and Lloyd, and for a while, there was a weird instance of courtship, where Skylor was courting Kai and Lloyd at the same time, while Lloyd was courting Kai and Kai was courting Lloyd. Finally, however, they realized that together, they were happier than whenever they were apart.

Lloyd had grown drowsy in bed at this point, his eyes beginning to shut, but he could still feel Kai crawl into bed with him, smelling like a bar of *****Pigeon Soap as he lazily looped an arm around Lloyd to pull him closer. Lloyd wriggled a bit until he was comfortable against Kai's bare chest (Kai overheated a lot while sleeping). Finally, his mind wandered to the wedding.

It had been done in proper Member fashion. Wu had initiated it, and together, Kai, Lloyd, and Skylor had all taken a drink of the sacred Lover's Tea, and once their rings were tattooed on, they were announced married. Together, they were given their own room, and even a larger bed than most married couples (as there were more of them). Lloyd still considered this to be the happiest day of his life and was happy to remember it before he dozed off.

"Lloyd?" Kai whispered, shaking his lover gently. Lloyd blinked, opening his eyes to see Kai standing over him, shaking him awake. Lloyd looked up and yawned heavily. Kai smiled at him softly, happiness glittering in his brown eyes.

"What's up?" He asked though it was slightly unintelligible because of the yawn. "Is it… time? Are we gonna…?"

"It's time for dinner," Kai clarified. "Here, get dressed," He motioned towards Lloyd's ornamental robes, which were a pale, milky color with gold edging and a green belt. Lloyd pulled off his pajamas for what was going to be the last time, and, sneaking a few glances at Kai's chest, pulled on his robes. Kai was already dressed, and so he led the way downstairs to floor five, where the meeting hall was.

As soon as they entered, Skylor waved them down, and they went to sit beside her. Kai was next to his sister, and Lloyd was between him and Skylor. Food was being passed around, and it was a feast. Juicy cuts of meat, sweet exotic fruits, perfect fillets of fish, crust bread… it was the best meal Lloyd had ever seen, certainly better than the plain pasta and gloopy oatmeal they normally had.

Before anyone could dig in, however, they all waited for Wu to make his statement. Standing before the members, he smiled at all of them. "Members, I have exciting news. Today, we have finished the final stages of the plan!"

A cheer went up, with lots of whistles and clapping. Lloyd cheered loudly, the rush of being part of something bigger filling his body.

Wu waited until the cheers quieted down before continuing. "Now, as this meal will be our last, our cooks have prepared a lovely array of dishes for us. May the cooks please stand up?" A few people around the room stood, as well as a boy across the table from them Lloyd recognized as Zane. Wu smiled fondly, almost nostalgic. "May we give them all a hand?"

More cheering. Lloyd caught Zane blushing hard at being given attention. He also saw his friend holding hands with Pixal, a girl in the medical department.

As the cheers died down a second time, Wu leaned into the microphone. "You are permitted to eat."

Bustling started immediately afterward. Dishes were passed around a bunch, and Lloyd tried as much of everything as he could. Kai's sister, Nya, passed her brother a plate piled high with Brazilian Cheese Bread.

"Remember when mom used to make these?" She asked as Kai took eight.

"I remember dad burning them," Kai answered, offering them to Lloyd, who took one. "That was hilarious."

"The best part was he drove us to ******Frita's afterward," Nya answered, kind of telling the story to everyone around them as well. Lloyd listened happily. Nya was a great surrogate sister and listening to tales of them as children were always happy.

Skylor passed him a plate of salmon sushi. "Try it, it's good."

Lloyd didn't like raw fish, but after all, this was his last meal, so he grabbed one anyway. "It is?"

"Yeah," Skylor answered. "My dad used to make this all the time when I was little. Remember when they took meal requests a few weeks ago?"

"Oh, yeah," Lloyd answered, passing the sushi to Kai, who continued passing it, too enthralled in a story he and Nya were telling about some incident involving a flaming tire and absurd amounts of gasoline. "Do you think they have any sweet pork dumplings?"

"I can see a steamer basket," Skylor answered, passing a dish of roasted carrots. "So, yes, I would suppose so. Are they your favorite?"

"Yes," Lloyd answered, taking a plate of tortillas and passing it. "They're great."

Skylor smiled at him, passing the steamer basket, and Lloyd helped himself to three before passing it to Kai. "Did anything funny happen to you, since everyone is discussing family stories?"

"Eh," Lloyd shrugged. "I'd have to think." he poked Kai. "Kai?"

"I have one," Kai grinned. "Once, when Nya and I were two or three, Nya really didn't want to sit next to the campfire at a neighbor's bar-b-que, so she threw her flip-flop in the fire."

"In my defense," Nya jumped in, interrupting Kai. "Our neighbors were a pair of really creepy twins, and they totally deserved to have their fire pit smell like burnt plastic for the next year."

"What about you?" Kai asked Skylor, and she thought for a moment.

"I guess it would have to be the time I climbed the Christmas Tree," Skylor answered, taking a bite of sushi.

"Wait, you climbed a Christmas tree?" Nya asked, eyes wide with respect. "I have got to hear this!"

Skylor smiled. "I was maybe… eight… and we had a gigantic tree, like, twelve feet tall. I coaxed two of my cousins into climbing it with me, and it fell over on us. We weren't hurt, but I got yelled at."

Kai grinned. "That's really funny. Did your dad have to apply child-repellent afterward?"

Skylor shook her head. "No, but we stopped having such a large tree."

Lloyd smiled and took a bite of his dumpling. He swallowed before speaking. "My mom says that I used to run around naked when I was little."

Kai folded his arms, looking stern. "How come you never do that around us?"

Lloyd blushed heavily, looking away from Kai. Leave it to him to make a joke like that.

"I don't see you doing it either," Skylor retorted, smacking Kai lightly.

Kai grinned at her, giving a weird half-bow. "I did not realize what you wanted, m'lady."

Skylor rolled her eyes but smiled at him anyway.

Pixal, for the first time, added something to the conversation. "What's everyone doing tonight?"

"Jay and I are going to sleep," Nya answered with a shrug.

Jay nodded with a yawn. "Yeah. I'm exhausted. You?"

"We're going to be in the kitchen," Zane answered for both of them, but Pixal backed him up with a nod. "It's somewhere important to us. Kai?"

Kai glanced at Lloyd, then at Skylor. "We were thinking of… going out on the roof, but…"

"Sounds good to me," Skylor answered, looking relieved that her final moments wouldn't be trapped under thousands of tons of rubble. She squeezed Lloyd's hand under the table, and he smiled at her.

"Neat," Nya nodded. "That's gonna be so cool."

Kai grinned proudly. "I was Lloyd's idea." Just because Kai had no problem bragging about himself meant that he also had no problem bragging about everyone else to literally anyone who would listen. Lloyd found this hilarious.

A chime silenced the bustling room as a clock at the front displaying the countdown flashed rapidly. One hour left. Lloyd's heart jumped into his throat as the realization hit him that this was real. This was actually happening. They were all going to die.

The next few minutes were blurrily numb. He abandoned his meal as everyone soberly got ready to die. Kai and Nya hugged each other, and Skylor and Lloyd each got to hug their sister-in-law as well. Kai pulled a small package from his pocket, which Lloyd realized was his album of family photos. Skylor led the way towards the stairs, as the nearing flare had destroyed the electronics. For several long minutes, they all climbed the stairs, going higher and higher until they reached the roof.

Lloyd took a long inhale as they approached the side, and together, they sat down. Skylor on one side of Lloyd and Kai on the other, then, they looked skywards.

"It's… oddly quiet," Skylor pointed out. "There aren't any birds or wires or anything."

"I was expecting it to be windier," Lloyd added. "This is kind of… disconcerting, in a way. I mean, I know we're gonna die, but… I'm still scared of it."

"Hey," Kai spoke softly. "We're right here. Not to mention we'll all see each other in the departed realm. I can't wait to see my dad and mom."

Lloyd nodded. "I can't wait to see Mystake." He poked Skylor. "You?"

She shook her head. "I hope my family rots in the Cursed Realm. You guys were the best family I ever could have asked for. Better than my dad."

Lloyd smiled at her, and Kai spoke up. "I'm glad we could do that for you."

Skylor sighed happily. "I'm glad I got married to you two."

Lloyd nodded, and Kai smiled painfully. An odd lump grew in Lloyd's throat, and he fought not to cry as he checked his watch. "Two minutes left."

"I love you guys," Skylor whispered, squeezing Kai and Lloyd tighter.

Lloyd sniffled. "I love you two."

"I love you two so much," Kai swallowed painfully. "I'm sorry we have to end like this."

"It's not your fault," Skylor and Lloyd said at almost the same time. They blinked at one another. Lloyd looked up at the flare, watching the bright orange, green and pale purple orchid-shaped blossom in the sky.

As it moved around in a bright circle, Lloyd suddenly felt at peace. Skylor and Kai gave him a final hug, and then Lloyd watched as the flare hit.

Beauty bled into pain before darkness crept across and all went black.

* * *

**A/N: Well, that was a… surprisingly depressing ending. Anyway, hope you enjoyed and I will see you guys with the next installment!**

***Dove Soap**

****Yes, this is a reference to Animal Crossing. Frita's name in Japan is Wendy's.**


	21. The Winds Of Flame

**Previously on AU Oneshots: Kai, Skylor, and Lloyd are in a doomsday cult.**

**Request: "****Can you do an AU where Kai ended up going to the museum at the beginning of Possession and got possessed instead of Lloyd?"**

**Requested by: Fire Mango (guest)**

**Warnings: Character possession**

**Pairings: N/A**

**AU: Kai is possessed instead of Lloyd**

**A/N: Creative liberties were taken.**

**The Winds of Flame**

"... Thank you, I'll let him know right away," Misako answered the person on the phone. Hanging up, she sighed.

"Is it a big order?" Nya asked, excited at the prospect of _Steep Wisdom_ taking off. She grabbed a pencil and order form just in case.

Misako shot Wu a puzzled look. "It's the… police. There's been a break-in at the museum, and they need one of the Ninja to help."

"I'll go," Lloyd offered immediately, setting his stack of flyers down on the table.

Kai folded his arms. "Not so fast, Greenbean." He smiled at Misako and Wu. "I'll take it."

"I could go and spare you the trouble, Kai," Zane interjected politely.

Wu rolled his eyes, knowing that if he didn't step in now, everyone would start arguing over who would get to go and get out of having to pass out flyers.

"Well, maybe I-" Jay started, but was interrupted by Wu.

"Enough!" Wu shouted, quieting all his students in an instant. "Kai will go. Lloyd, you and Cole split his flyers, please."

Kai divided his flyers roughly and handed them to Lloyd and Cole. Lloyd frowned at Wu, but took the flyers anyway. Kai flipped his hood on and ran outside, summoning his dragon and flying off.

Nya watched her brother go, looking concerned before she glanced nervously at Lloyd. "Why do I feel like… we somehow dodged a bullet?"

"I dunno," Cole shrugged. "Probably deja vu."

"No," Lloyd interrupted. "I feel the same. Like somehow… something bad was going to happen to me, but now…"

Jay sighed. "Should we just get started instead of contemplating the existence of alternate timelines?"

Everyone collectively stopped talking to stare at him.

Jay sighed. "What I mean is, the sooner we're started, the sooner we're done, right? Heh."

The group collectively sighed but set out towards Ninjago City nonetheless.

* * *

Kai leapt off his dragon, doing a backflip as he landed on the oddly quiet museum's outside plaza. No one was in sight, and the whole place was covered in almost ridiculous amounts of yellow caution tape and a police barricade.

A police chief spotted Kai, looking up from his notes, and walked over next to a detective. "Thank goodness you're here."

"What happened, officer?" Kai asked as a detective joined them and the three of them made their way towards the museum. "Anything supernatural I should be prepared for?"

"Well," The Chief sighed heavily. "We don't exactly know. There was a break-in, but I'm sure you're aware of that. The night watchman had a scare, and he's been jittery and unresponsive since. Also, none of the museum staff have owned up to calling the ninja."

"That's odd, but not unusual," Kai answered with a shrug. "Can you introduce me to the night watchman? Maybe I can get something out of him."

The Chief sighed, looking relieved. "I was hoping you'd say that." He led Kai inside and past the massive museum fountain at the front. Kai spotted the museum curator talking to a pair of officers, trembling as he spoke.

"Oh, by the way, officer," Kai asked the Chief he was following. "What exactly was stolen?"

"That's just it," The detective with them jumped in. "It was the allied armor. Though fabled to be able to allow the wearer to conjure allies, it's powers are widely regarded as mythological. It's not very valuable, Cursed Realm, it wasn't even on display!"

"That's… odd," Kai lamented. "Has anyone been able to locate it?"

"No," The detective sighed. "It's just… gone. You're gonna have to talk to the night watchman."

As they approached the night watchman, Kai looked him over. He was older, in his fifties, wrapped in a thin felt blanket. He was gripping a mug of soothing Serene-tea (Kai recognized that smell anywhere (Wu always gave some to Lloyd whenever the Green Ninja had nightmares or panic attacks)) and was biting his lips and cheeks, constantly glancing around with haunted green eyes. He looked up as they approached.

Kai forced his shoulders down and took a deep breath, though anxiety was eating at him from the inside out. Spending several weeks with Master Chen, the king of insane, wasn't good for anyone's sanity. "Hello," He started. "I'm Kai, one of the Ninja, and I'm here to help you. I understand you were in a stressful situation last night. Do you want to tell me what happened?"

Though it didn't seem like it, Kai had a long history of comforting crying siblings, and with his 'popular kid' vibe, it made people around him often relax and open up.

The night watchman sighed, setting down his mug and pulling the blanket tighter around his shoulders. Kai gently sat down beside him and nodded to the Police Chief and Detective to do the same. "Alright. Let's start with the basics. When does your shift start?"

"10:30," The watchman answered in a soft, nervous voice. "Why?"

Kai bit his lip. "Well, I need to know when your shift starts so I'll know whether or not there would be anyone else in the building."

The night watchman relaxed a bit. "Usually I'm the only one after 11. Dr. Saunders sometimes stays late, though. He has a project going on in the basement."

The detective scribbled down a couple notes. "I'll ask him." She told Kai, hopping up from her seat and heading across the museum's foyer.

The night watchman sighed. "I… don't like talking about this."

"I know," Kai answered. "But you're gonna have to tell me so we can solve this, okay?"

"Can I just show you what happened?" He asked, eyes pleading as he looked up from the table at Kai.

"What do you think?" Kai asked the police chief, who shrugged.

"I think it's safe if you're comfortable with it," He answered. "But take this." He pulled the radio off his belt and handed it over. "Just in case something happens, you can radio for backup."

Kai nodded and followed the night watchman down one of the long hallways. Their footsteps rang out against the marble floors and the watchman showed Kai the wing where the armor had been stolen.

"I was walking through here," The watchman clarified. "When I kept hearing noises."

"What kind of noises?" Kai asked as they entered what looked like a tiny storage closet. The chest that used to hold the allied armor was open and spilling the sand used to protect the chestplate all over the carpet.

"Like… footsteps," The guard answered. "It sounded like someone was walking across the roof. Then I heard a window shattered, and I followed the noise in here and…"

"The armor was missing," Kai concluded, examining the broken chest. "You know," He didn't look up from the box as he spoke. "Odd of a thief to only take one thing."

He spun around, dodging the hammer that the night watchman had lifted and was swinging wildly. Kai grabbed the radio from his belt and tried to turn it on, but he slipped and dropped it. Instead, he backed away from the crazed watchman, watching as his coat slid off to reveal an oxidizing copper breastplate over his chest.

"You stole it!?" Kai exclaimed, dodging another blow and grabbing a chisel laying on one of the tables to block the watchman's next swing.

"You're not exactly the ninja that I wanted," The watchman hissed, swinging again and only giving Kai a moment to block the blow. "Where is Wu's beloved Green Ninja anyway?"

"Like I'll tell you!" Kai snapped back, twisting around and kicking the watchman in the chest, sending him flying into a shelving unit against the far wall. He glared, regaining his footing and grabbing a display sword to shield himself.

The watchman groaned, but before he could get up, the entire shelving unit toppled over, burying the poor man in a flood of cabinets and papers. Kai approached cautiously, lifting the edge of a cabinet and looking down at the injured watchman. He placed the blade of the sword under the man's chin.

"Alright," Kai growled. "Playtime's over. Now talk."

A grey-green mist rose from the watchman's body and glided into a nearby painting of Master Chen. Kai blinked slowly, convinced he was seeing things.

The watchman groaned. "Ugh… someone was in my head. What's going on?"

The painting moved horrendously, like an old, deadly animation, beginning to laugh hysterically. Kai yanged his sword away from the watchman and speared the picture, slashing it in half. The paint and canvas peeled away, revealing nothing there.

Next, a golden statue of Skales writhed on its pedestal, turning his eyes towards Kai and the watchman with a horrendous scraping noise. Kai tightened his grip on the sword and stared it down.

"Your powersss are usssseless," The statue hissed, glinting its eyes at Kai. "You thhhhink you can hurt a ghosssst?"

"No," Kai retaliated, dodging the creature's golden tail as it lashed towards him. "But I'm not going to let you hurt Lloyd."

"Lloyd?" The ghost asked. "A sssssweet name. You'll never be able to protect him. I can possssssessss anythhhhhing!"

"Oh yeah?!" Kai shouted, kicking sand at the statue and preparing himself to fight. "If you're so big and powerful, how come you haven't possessed me?!"

The statue froze, and the dark black mist of a ghost floated out, carefully possessing the sand until it formed the shape of a boy no older than fourteen. He smiled. "You're not the ninja I want to possess."

"When he was in my head I saw his thoughts," The night watchman cried. "The world… the world will be cursed!"

Both Kai and the ghost ignored him. "Is that so?" Kai asked. "Are you sure it's because you don't want to fail?"

The ghost laughed. "You're a fool if you think I can't possess you. I am from the Cursed Realm. That's what we ghosts do! And why would you challenge me?"

Kai rolled his eyes, glancing at the watchman. "Get a load of this ghost. He wants to possess the Green Ninja but he won't even possess me!"

"Arrrrggggg," Morro growled. "That's enough! I will not have you making a fool of me or my abilities any longer!"

Kai grinned as Morro lunged forward snarling something along the lines of "I'll show you!"

And then there was a second presence in his head.

"Kai!"The watchman climbed up from the floor. "Are you alright?"

Kai tried to answer. He really did. But somehow his voice didn't obey him and his lips wouldn't move. Instead, he found his own voice saying aloud. "I'm alright. That ghost didn't know what he was talking about."

Kai panicked, his consciousness freaking out as he-no, his body- helped the watchman up and out towards the foyer of the museum. Strutting in, he grinned. "I do believe I've found the museum thief," He held up the watchman's arms, revealing the stolen armor.

Kai fought back. "As it turns out, your (help me) watchman was stealing this whole ( ghost has me) time."

The ghost in his body angrily covered his own words with angry snarls.

"Well, I think we know what happened here," The detective smiled, tapping her pencil on her clipboard. "Thank you, Fire Ninja."

The ghost tried to bow, but Kai fought back and it ended up coming out as an awkward nod. "Of course, Ma'am. Happy to HElp. (I'm trapped!)"

"What was that?" She asked as two cops cuffed the guard.

"Nothing," the ghost's voice answered as he dragged Kai's body towards the door.

As soon as they were outside, he smiled. "Now, where to find those little ninja friends of yours."

"You'll never find them," Kai was surprised at how easy it was to speak as he battled Morro's hold. "I won't let you."

Morro scoffed. "Please. You're powerless in my grasp. I can see where they are in your memories," He sighed. "Such a pretty little tea shop. Too bad it'll be destroyed when I get to it."

He laughed, and suddenly Kai felt more helpless than he'd ever felt in his entire life. But through the helplessness, one feeling shone through, tugging his heart and holding him close. He still had to protect them.

And no matter what happened, he was going to do just that.

* * *

**A/N: Okay, this was an interesting request, but I somehow feel like it's not finished. Anyone interested in a part two where the other Ninja meet Possessed-Kai? Also, Kai/Morro's weird dialogue was partially based on Tiffany's possession by the Hiver in the Tiffany Aching Discworld books (they're really great, if you like fantasy, He's a great guy to check out).**

**Next time on AU Oneshots: Hanakhai AU!**


	22. Petals

**Previously on AU Oneshots: Kai is possessed instead of Lloyd.**

**Request: Hanahaki AU**

**Requested by: TheANIMEArtist02**

**Warnings: Contains (mild) blood, mucus, and probably vomit**

**Pairings: Glacier**

**AU: Hanahaki AU**

**A/N: What is Hanahaki? To explain it in the words of TheANIMEArtist02: "To explain hanakai, it is when a person has … feelings for [another] person and they are unrequited, which then causes flowers to grow in their lungs. The symptoms of it are coughing while around them and throwing up flowers and blood. There is a surgery that can be done to remove the flowers but will cause all feelings toward the other person to not be present anymore. The hanakai disease slowly kills a person."**

**A/N: Anyway, so I know I wrote a glacier already. This is fine. I need to write a better one.**

**Note: **_**Aquilegia Regina**_ **is not a real flower. There is no such thing as Princess' Columbine. **_**Aquilegia**_ **is indeed the scientific name of the Columbine flower, but the other facts are entirely fictitious.**

**2nd Note: The Hanakai disease doesn't usually involve mucus and snot, but trying to be realistic here (ha! Realism). It does in this version.**

**Petals**

Cole could pinpoint the exact day it had all started.

He remembered every little detail in perfect accuracy. The morning had been somewhat ordinary. The alarm clock Wu had set before he left to find Garmadon woke the ninja at the crack of dawn for sunrise exercise. Cole had remembered the odd feeling, but he had assumed allergies.

And then everything came tumbling down.

It didn't crash, rather, it just sort of… fell apart slowly.

Kai and Cole went at it as hard as they could, each armed with a training sword made crudely from PVC pipes.

"You ready to lose!?" Kai taunted, swinging his sword about and moving into a power stance.

Cole laughed heartily. "As if!"

They rushed at each other, fighting with the pipes and spinning around one another. For once, Cole was glad he'd gone to Marty Oppenheimer's as a kid. His sense of balance and awareness of his limbs came in handy a lot more than he'd realized.

Kai dodged one of Cole's swings and blocked it, using his fierceness to knock Cole back several steps. Cole pressed back, his natural earthlike strength coming into play. Kai was his favorite to spar with, as he actually knew what he was doing 90% of the time.

Jay yawned audibly from the other side of the deck. He and Zane were waiting for their turn to practice with long-distance weapons. Jay in particular was half-asleep, while Zane, the quiet, calm nindroid he was, was watching them with his deep, curious blue eyes.

Cole blushed as he and Zane made eye contact, allowing Kai to get a hit in on Cole's hip. "OW! KAI!"

"Pay attention!" Kai answered, sounding annoyed he wasn't the center of attention anymore. "What are you looking at anyway?"

Cole shook his head hard and blocked one of Kai's blows. "I was checking on Zane and Jay-" he cut himself off, coughing.

Kai stopped with the fake weapons and froze, watching in confusion as Cole fell to his knees, coughing harder.

"Hey, you okay?" Kai looked over, before waving to Zane and Jay, getting them to come over. Jay and Zane ran over, forming a half-circle as Cole coughed.

After a final cough, he spat out the horrid thing that had impeded his breath.

It was… a flower petal?

Not just any flower petal, it appeared to be from a Columbine plant. The petal was white, but the gradient faded towards a dark blue color. The petal wasn't pretty, it was surrounded by a layer of white phlegm, and was laying in a puddle of saliva.

Jay wrinkled his nose. "Um, why'd you cough out a flower, Cole?"

"I must've breathed it in or something," Cole answered, gagging. Gross. "What kind of flower even is it?"

Zane examined the petal closer. "_Aquilegia Regina_. Or, by its common name, Princess' Columbine. They grow in the forests, and it is possible that you may have inhaled a petal while we were in the woods the other day. Although, it confuses me as to why you would not have coughed it up immediately."

"Maybe it blew out here on the wind," Kai offered with a shrug. "Isn't that how pollen spreads."

Zane sighed. "I would have to look into it."

"Can Zane and I train now," Jay asked. "Not to be, heh, rude or anything, but shouldn't Cole sit out after coughing up an entire flower?"

"It was only one petal," Cole snapped. "I'm fine. And by the way, you need to work on your swordsmanship. You and Kai practice."

"What?!" Both of them exclaimed, but Cole grumpily dragged himself across the deck, ignoring the complaints of 'he's going to electrocute me!' or 'how come I have to fight an aimable ball of rage!?'. He sighed, sitting down on the steps.

Zane came over to him and sat down besides Cole. "Are you feeling alright, Cole? You really should rest if you're sick."

"I'm… okay," Cole sighed, covering his face as he blushed hard. He looked up watching Kai and Jay both attempt to murder one another. "Just… a little grossed out because of the flower."

Zane nodded. "I… do not fully understand, but I will try to be compassionate."

Cole sighed, feeling another bout of coughing come on. "Thanks-" he coughed hard. "-Zane-" He closed his eyes, coughing harder. "'Scuse me," Cole scrambled up and ran inside to the bathroom, grabbing a couple tissues and coughing so hard his throat hurt from the sheer force of his coughs.

He groaned, leaning backwards and moaning in agony as he saw another piece of plant in the tissue. This time it was a leaf and a chunk of stem. Why'd this happen? It couldn't possibly be a coincidence, they were on open ocean. He would've Doogled it, but the Ninja didn't have a computer, and he doubted there would even be any good Wifi considering where they were.

Maybe someone had snuck some on board? Maybe Zane could help. He _was_ the unofficial nurse of the Ninja.

"No, that's ridiculous," Cole snapped at himself. "There's nothing he can do, and Wu left you in charge, so you shouldn't burden everyone else with your problems." He sighed, sneezing into the tissue. "Great. I'm talking to myself."

He got up off the floor, tossed the tissue into a garbage can and washed his hands, leaving the room and running straight into Nya.

"Sorry," He answered, moving past her.

"You're good," Nya didn't look up. "Oh, Zane and I are planning on going to the library later today, do you want to come?"

Oh. A library. Full of books and computers. A source of information. Hmm. "Sure," Cole answered, a plan forming in his head. Maybe if he could find someone online with something similar, he could figure out what was going on.

"Cool, we'll expect you," Nya answered, opening the door to her room, separate from the rest of the bounty, and coincidentally, the only other room besides the bathroom with a lock. "Oh," She poked her head outside around the door frame. "Zane's in the bunkroom. He wants to talk to you."

"About what?" Cole asked, his heart beginning to pound. What was Zane going to tell him? That he was straight? That he had a crush on Jay? That-

Nya shrugged. "I don't know, but he seemed pretty worried about you."

Happiness jumped in Cole's heart. Zane wanted to talk to him? Zane wanted to devote attention to talking to him?! Cole practically sprinted into the bunkroom, nearly slipping on a shirt someone (read: Kai) had left on the floor.

Stumbling into the bunkroom, Cole found Zane sitting on his bed. He looked up from _The Group of the Circles_ as Cole came in, his face brightening, causing Cole's heart to jump so hard he was surprised his ribs hadn't been broken yet. He gagged as a clump of mucus rose in his chest, but swallowed it.

"Did you want to talk to me, Zane?" He asked, standing awkwardly, not knowing what to do.

Zane patted the mattress next to him with a slight nod, and Cole came to sit down, wheezing slightly. It seemed like he was out of breath a lot lately.

"Well?"

"Are you sure you are not ill, Cole?" Zane asked, genuine concern seeping through his voice. "It is perfectly reasonable to take a break and rest if you do not feel well."

"No, no," Cole gasped a bit, coughing. "I'm fine, it's… probably just allergies. Are… you okay?" He could've smacked himself later from how absolutely stupid he sounded.

"I am fine, thank you," Zane didn't seem to mind, glancing at his hands with a sigh. "I… believe I have… adjusted to knowing that I am-"

"Unique," Cole interrupted, knowing that if Zane was left the way he was, he might trail off and start talking about how he was a 'weird computer Pinocchio'. Cole loved Zane with all his heart, and it hurt to hear the Ice Ninja think of himself less because of… well, you know. "You're unique."

Awkward silence followed. Zane took a few deep breaths and ended up leaning on Cole for support. Cole coughed a couple of times, swallowing whatever weird plant matter without looking at it. Zane blinked slowly.

"Cole?" He asked after a long moment. "Did you know that rats can use morse code?"

Cole started to laugh, but it evolved into coughs. Did Zane always do that when he got nervous? Sprout random facts? It was so cute! Cursed realm, it was straight-up adorable. "No," He wheezed. "I didn't know that. What do they say to each other?"

"I do not know," Zane shrugged with a smile plastered on his face. "I would assume something along the lines of, "Hello, rat friend, how are you doing today?""

"Do you know morse code?" Cole asked, considering nudging Zane, but deciding it would be way too awkward.

"I know a little," Zane answered, holding out a hand. "May I?"

May I? May he hold Cole's hand? Cole's palms instantly began to sweat, and he felt a sneeze rising in his nose. Ignoring the sneeze, he blushed hard. "Uh, yeah." He wiped off his large hand and placed it gingerly into Zane's thin, cool one.

Zane started slightly (probably at how sweaty Cole's hands were, but Cole tried not to think about that.) He smiled, then squeezed Cole's hand in a strange succession: …-... "That means SOS," Zane explained. "This is 'Good Morning'" -. - - -.. - - .-. -. .. -. -. More Pressure.

Cole nodded, fascinated by the language that Zane appeared to understand perfectly. "How do you say, um," He blushed, and had to clear his throat. "'I love you?'"

Zane smiled. "That's quite easy, actually." .. / .-.. - ...- . / -.- - ..- He began the pressure, and Cole's heart rate jumped. He tried to ignore it, but there was another round of coughing rising in his chest. Instead, he focused on Zane's cool fingers pressing against his palms, memorising the pattern of the morse code.

Someday, he promised himself, he'd use this pattern to tell Zane how he truly felt. Just not… right now. Cole opened his mouth to say something, but as he did, Kai knocked on the door. Zane and Cole jumped apart, surprised

"Hey, um, Nya is talking about going to the library later today, are you two going with her or… hey, why are you looking at me like that!" The Fire Ninja protested, as Cole glared at him for ruining the moment.

"Oh, yes, we are," Zane answered Kai. "Is she leaving now?"

Kai shrugged, moving to grab a fresh pair of clothes from the drawers, muttering something like: "How should I know?"

Zane smiled at Cole. "Perhaps we should go and speak with Nya?"

Cole snapped out of his thoughts, which were too focused on the way Zane's synthetic skin had felt against his own. "Oh, yeah, we should."

As they left the room to find Nya, however, the experience lingered. Cole's cough had seemed to get stronger when he was near Zane, which means… this might have a reasonable explanation! The flowers, he was sure, were just coincidence, but maybe he was allergic to whatever material Zane's hair was made of, or his skin, or nails, or… you get the point.

Relief rushed through Cole as they entered the bridge. He was fine. This was fine. Everything was going to be fine.

Oh, if only he could've known how mistaken he was.

* * *

Ninjago City Public Library was a calm, warm building located in the city center. Zane immediately went looking for books on the history of Androids. Nya returned _The Ocean of Creatures_, and went looking for _The Giant's Spell_. Cole waited until they were gone, before he slipped into a seat at one of the library's old dinosaur computers.

Opening Doogle, he glanced around a bit, before, just for fun, and to satisfy his curiosity, he typed in: coughing up flowers.

Immediately, a song popped up, and Cole sighed, scrolling down the page. Most of the results appeared to be about the song, but a few instances of 'disease' caught his eyes.

Confused, Cole went back to his original search and added 'disease' to the web bar. The first thing that popped up was a link to a Quora article.

Confused, Cole opened the article in another tab, and scanned it quickly, certain quotes jumping out at him.

"The Hanahaki Disease is an illness born from unrequited love, where the patient's throat will fill up with flower, they will then proceed to throw, and cough up the petals, (sometimes even the flowers)." (1)

Interesting. Did this have something to do with the excited feeling Cole got around Zane?

"One of the only ways for the disease to 'disappear' is if said person returns the feeling (it can't be resolved with friendship, it has to be genuine feelings of love)." (2)

Okay, that made Cole's heart pound. If this _did_ have something to do with his feelings for Zane, then, well, this was terrifying.

"The infection can also be removed through surgery, though the feelings disappear along with the petals. If they choose nether options, or the feeling is not returned in time, then the patient's lungs will fill up with flowers, and will eventually suffocate." (3)

Realization hit Cole like a punch to the gut when training with Kai. He could die. This was serious. If Zane didn't reciprocate those feelings… Cole could die. He could die. He could leave his siblings to try and protect the world without him there to lead them.

And then, salting the wound, was the last sentence.

"The Hanahaki disease is not real; there is no case of anyone ever contracting the disease. Should it had been real, it may have been labeled as an infection rather than a disease."

It's not real? That didn't make any sense, if it wasn't real, then how did Cole have it? Did he contract a fictional disease? How was that even possible?

Cole sighed, closing the tab, going back to the Doogle page. He was about to select "images" when his eyes were attracted by the blue banner on the side of the page labeled 'Health Conditions Related to This Search:'

Cole read over the symptoms, but none of them included flowers in the mix. He sighed, selecting images. Some of them were pictures drawn by romantics on Digressart, of men and women dramatically twisted over, rivers of petals pouring from their mouths. Cole curiously noted how none of these drawings had any of the mucus that he was experiencing.

The other few pictures were people (mostly women and girls) dressed up, holding bouquets of fake flowers or jamming them down their throats. Some had blood (which alarmed Cole, as that hadn't happened to him), but none had mucus or tissue that Cole would expect from-

"Cole?" Zane's voice came from behind him, and Cole froze, scrambling to shut the window, before spinning around to look at Zane. Zane blinked at him. "Is everything alright?"

"Oh, yeah, I um, I was looking for uh… stuff to draw," Cole blushed, reaching over to shut down the library computer. Arrg… why'd he say that!? Zane didn't know that Cole drew, this was so… embarrassing!

Zane, however, didn't notice, and instead, he smiled. "That's actually rather neat, Cole. I would like to see your art sometime."

Cole blushed harder, redness seeping deeper into his cheeks. "You- you would?"

Zane nodded. "Of course."

Cole smiled back, anxiously tapping his fingers against the library desk. "Hey, um, is Nya ready to go, or-" He coughed slightly.

"Oh, yes," Zane smiled. "Nya told me to get you. I asked her to find a book on respiratory illness and infection so we can match your symptoms to see if it's serious enough to see a doctor."

"_The infection can also be removed through surgery, though the feelings disappear along with the petals."_ Popped into his head, and Cole shook his head vigorously. "No, I'm sure it's not serious. It's probably… just allergies."

Zane shrugged. "Well, if you think it may be getting serious, tell me, okay?"

Cole bit his lip but nodded. "Should we go find Nya?"

Zane nodded, and together, they left to find Nya. As they were all leaving the library, however, Cole coughed up a leaf. He stuffed it in his jacket pocket, but anxiety began to rise in his chest nonetheless, as well as a second bought of mucus.

Something was going on, and Cole felt completely helpless to stop it.

* * *

Cole was sure he was going to die.

Three weeks after the fight at the library, Cole and the others were entering a Serpentine-attacked village. Running through the streets, Cole couldn't help but cough, feeling a stem in his mouth. Over the last few weeks, the flowers and plant life had begun to get worse. He had begun coughing up roots, tiny pieces of his flesh entangled in them. Blood had begun to emerge as well, and it was getting harder for Cole to, well, not only breathe, but also to hide it from his siblings.

A Constictai warrior exploded through the earth with enough force to knock a regular person off their feet. Cole whipped around, swinging the Scythe of Quakes in a wide arc to fend off the attacking snake.

"Come at me, you slithering fiend!" He shouted, wincing at the odd raspiness of his voice (and the fact he sounded like Kai, but…).

The snake warrior hissed her forked tongue. "Withhhh pleassssure!"

She leaped forward, grabbing the edge of the scythe and dragging Cole towards the ground. Cole yanked it backwards and fought back, swinging the serpent into a wall.

Unfortunately, Constrictai bones were at least an 8 on the Mohs hardness scale, so this had the same effect of throwing a sock at an irritating brother.

She got up quickly, shaking off a would-be concussion and leaping at Cole. This time, he resorted to his fists, slamming her in the face as she slid backwards into a display case. Unfortunately, she was almost as strong as him, and hit back with the same force, smacking him in the face while laughing taunts.

"Unlike a ninja to hit a girl," She hissed, chuckling at him.

"Unlike a serpentine to taunt an enemy," Cole snapped back with a cough.

She grinned at him, then whirled around and slammed her tail into his stomach.

_I can't breathe,_ Was Cole's only thought as he was flung backwards into a wall. _I can't breathe. I CAN'T BREATHE. I AM GOING TO DIE!_

"COLE!"

Thank the First Spinjitzu Master, Zane's voice was like an angel's call across the battlefield. Cole was gasping on the earth like a dead fish as Zane body slammed the serpentine so hard she got up and then immediately fell over.

Zane sprinted to Cole's side, grabbing him. "Cole? Cole! Say something?!" He pulled Cole closer, but the Earth Ninja couldn't get enough air into his lungs to be able to answer him. He was vaguely aware of a red blur and a blue blur running towards them, but everything hurt so, so, so bad.

In a panicked attempt to communicate, Cole grabbed Zane's hand and squeezed out the only thing he remembered from their Morse Code conversation. .. / .-.. - ...- . / -.- - ..-

"Cole," Zane gasped. "I, I had no idea, Cole, I-"

Everything went black.

* * *

Bip.

Bip.

Bip.

"Is he gonna be okay?"

"All reports show that he will be fine, Mr. Smith. However, it is strange that a perfectly healthy teenager should collapse like that suddenly. Are you sure he doesn't suffer from allergies or asthma?"

"Not that we know of. He did start coughing a whole bunch a couple weeks ago, though."

"Oh, must've been a respiratory infection though. We'd have to do a deeper swab to see if it was TB."

"TB?"

"Tuberculosis."

Cole opened his eyes inside an ambulance. A warm pressure on his hand revealed Zane watching Kai and Jay talk to a nervous paramedic as he tried to coax medical information out of them. Zane glanced at Cole and started slightly. "You're awake."

Cole nodded, not even trying to talk through the ventilator on his face.

"Cole," Zane bit his lips. "About what you said earlier, I… I feel the same way. I was worried that… if I told you, you wouldn't want to be with a…"

Cole took a breath. "I know." He sighed, surprised by the lack of raspiness in his voice. "I should've told you, Zane. I… I felt so bad about loving you in the first place…" He sighed again, relishing the lack of raspiness.

Zane smiled, squeezing his hand. "I accept your… apology?"

Cole smiled back at him. "Hey, um, since you feel the same, maybe we could… try… dating?"

Zane blinked at him.

Cole tensed. "If that's too fast, we could just remain friends and try to figure out the whole dating thing later."

"Cole," Zane squeezed his hand, getting his attention. Tears were welling in the nindroid's eyes. "No one's ever asked me such a thing before. I'd love to."

Cole smiled back, his cheeks beginning to hurt from all the grinning. "Thanks, Zane."

Zane nodded.

And though no one was ever able to truly realize Cole's infection, as it baffled hospital staff and biological researchers for years, Cole and Zane were happy together. Time went on. Life went on. The Serpentine were defeated, but new threats arose.

But no matter what the Ninja, and more importantly, Cole and Zane as a unit, faced, no one ever saw the Hanahaki Disease ever again.

* * *

**A/N: This took way too long, and I'm not completely satisfied with it, but anyway.**

**I still can't spell Hanahaki. I've literally been copy-pasting the word the entire story XD.**

**Next time on AU Oneshots: A modern Lloya oneshot!**

**The Quora article Cole looked at is actually a real Quora article.**


	23. Lily Pond

**A/N: Will the person who requested this: "****Might sound weird but, maybe oni! Cole x kai x IE! Zane?" please elaborate on what you meant? I've been stumped ever since I read it XD.**

**Last Time on AU Oneshots: Cole falls ill with Hanahaki.**

**Request: Modern Nya x Lloyd**

**Requested By: Anonymouse**

**Warnings: N/A**

**Pairings: Nya/Lloyd**

**AU: Modern**

**A/N: Yes, this story takes place in Japan, but when characters speak Japanese, they won't actually be speaking Japanese, as I don't know Japanese.**

**Lily Pond**

Lloyd was late.

Very late.

Very, very, late.

And to an important lesson at Ninjago University. Even worse, the university, located downtown from Tokyo, Japan, was a ten-minute train ride away, and Lloyd was already five minutes late.

Scrambling down the escalator, his black backpack bouncing against his back, he scrambled for the last available train, narrowly dodging an old lady (who yelled at him in Japanese) and a group of kids on their way to elementary school in the opposite direction.

He leapt for the train but missed it as the doors slid shut and the train began to pull out of the station. With a groan, Lloyd trudged across the platform and grumpily sat down on one of the benches provided for railway users. He sighed, placing an elbow on his knee and his face in his hands.

His father, Garmadon, had paid for him to attend N.U. overseas in their biology program, and yet here he was, late for his first lecture of the day. Guilt dripped through his midsection, and Lloyd sighed, covering his eyes and slumping even farther over. This was getting ridiculous.

"Hey, can I sit here?" A female voice in fluent Japanese asked him.

Lloyd started, then looked up at the person standing beside him. He nodded. "Yes."

The girl beside him was taller than he was, with bronze skin, dark hair, and flashy brown eyes. She was wearing a light tank top and was carrying a small, light bag, in contrast to Lloyd's heavy black suit and briefcase-like backpack.

"You headed to NU?" She asked, adjusting her black hair in its ponytail.

Lloyd blushed, looking away, but he nodded.

She switched to English, the verbs and pronouns sounding harsh and random against the normally fluid Japanese language. "You speak English too, right?"

"Yeah," Lloyd sighed, smiling. Yes, he was fluent in Japanese, but conversing in English always felt more natural to him. "It's my native language."

"Neat, me too," The girl answered, raising her eyebrow at the old lady Lloyd had slammed into earlier. "I'm Nya. You?"

"I'm Lloyd," Lloyd answered, as a new train sped into the station, this one heading into Tokyo. "Are you from overseas… or?"

Nya laughed slightly. "Yeah, I'm an Expat. My brother and I moved here so he could open a restaurant with his long-distance girlfriend, and I ended up going to school at NU. What about you?"

"My dad sent me here to study Biology," Lloyd answered. "He's a big CEO from California." For once, Lloyd's mention of that felt less like pride and more like… bragging.

Nya didn't seem to care. "So you hung out with movie stars all the time?" She teased. "I'm just kidding. That's pretty nice of him to send you to school here, though."

"Yeah," Lloyd sighed. "I guess it is. I'm Majoring in Fish and Wildlife Management. You?"

"Marine biology," Nya answered. "Are you going to work at Yellowstone?"

Lloyd nodded. "Yeah. Yellowstone or Yosemite. There's a demand for Fish and Wildlife Specialists."

Nya sighed. "Sounds cool. I'm probably going to go work on the Chesapeake Bay, near my parent's house in Maryland. What class do you have first?"

Lloyd bit his lip. "Actually, I'm late for my first lecture… it's with Professor Sorla."

Nya laughed. "We have the same Professor. I have the 10:30 lecture. _Microbiology in Nuclear Affected Zones_, right?"

Lloyd chuckled. "That's the one. Although… I hope we never have to use it."

Nya sighed, but smiled. A train began to pull into the station as the other one pulled out, and Nya looked up. "Oh, that's my train. Hang on-" She ripped a piece of paper off her bookmark and scribbled an address on it in Japanese. "Here's the address of my Brother's restaurant. Meet me there at 15:00?"

"Uh, sure," Lloyd looked up as Nya stumbled towards the station. "Should I-"

"Casual dress, meet me outside," Nya answered, almost reading Lloyd's mind as he stumbled backwards. "See you then!"

Lloyd nodded, grinning as Nya entered the train and the doors slid shut. As the train pulled out of the station, she waved to him, and he waved back. Glancing up at the station schedule hanging from the roof, he smiled. The next train was his. Sitting back down, he grinned. Today may have been bad, but it had just gotten a whole lot better.

* * *

That afternoon, after his last class, Lloyd stood in front of the mirror in his apartment, agonizing over what Nya had meant as 'casual dress'. Did she mean American casual dress? Jeans and a Tee-Shirt? But it was kind of cold, and Lloyd had just gotten a new hoodie from his mom for his birthday, and he had a very nice blue casual dress shirt. Maybe those?

He tried them on, but the blue just didn't go with his green hoodie (not to mention he'd already sweated through the dress shirt with anxiety. With a sigh, he pulled it off, then reached into his closet and closed his eyes, grabbing the first thing he could.

Oh. A dark green tennis sweater. This looked okay, and it matched with any of his white shirts. Getting dressed, he added his fanciest pair of jeans, and a leather belt, both gifts from some friend or family member who was good at fashion.

Looking over himself in the mirror, Lloyd bit his lip, then took a deep breath and swallowed. "It's going to be okay." He told himself, but nerves began to eat at him again. With a sigh, Lloyd grabbed his phone and left the apartment before they could bother him anymore.

Hurrying down the street, Lloyd finally arrived at the address just before 15:00. He moved to the side of the wall, nervously shifting from foot to foot, looking around for Nya.

Just as his watch switched from 14:59 to 15:00. Then, he spotted Nya across the crowded sidewalk. She waved him over, and Lloyd walked across the tight street towards her.

"Um… hey?" Lloyd asked, nervous beyond belief.

"Hey," Nya grinned at him as a grumpy passerby gave them the side-eye for speaking English. Nya raised an eyebrow at her, then switched to Japanese. "My brother's restaurant is right through here. You want to come."

"Uh, sure," Lloyd answered in Japanese, then he glanced around. "As long as you won't murder me."

Nya rolled her eyes but laughed. "Of course I won't do that. This isn't 'Merica."

"Hah," Lloyd relaxed, remembering the violent bloody news of the US. But he really laughed because Nya had randomly switched from Japanese to English when she said 'Merica, and a passerby had started so hard he nearly dropped the box he was carrying.

Walking down the street, Lloyd noticed a large, neon sign. On it was a man with a small moustache and goatee eating a massive bowl of rainbow noodles. Directly below that, in Japanese, was written "Master Chen's Noodle House'. Below _that_ was the same phrase in English. Lloyd noted the place as tourist-friendly.

As they entered, Nya waved and called out to a woman a bit older than her who was tending the bar. The woman waved back.

Lloyd started slightly. The woman was older than them, with a traditional native complexion, but her hair was… red? What? How? Was this even possible? Then Lloyd realized it was dyed and he was an idiot.

Nya approached the bar and motioned for Lloyd to sit next to her. "Lloyd, this is my brother's girlfriend, Skylor Chen." She was still speaking Japanese. "Skylor, this is my new… um… friend, Lloyd. Lloyd Garmadon."

Skylor smiled. "Pleased to meet you, Lloyd Garmadon. Are you by any chance the son of-"

Lloyd slumped. "Yeah. He's my dad. You heard of him?"

"He's a family friend of my dad," Skylor answered, grabbing a paper pad and mechanical pencil from under the bar. "Can I get you guys anything?"

Nya scooted a menu over to Lloyd, and he glanced at the items. Most were semi-normal, but a lot of them also incorporated a bunch of other cuisines into Japanese dishes (such as deep-fried sushi, or pico de gallo soba).

"Can I just have some chips?" Nya asked, and Skylor nodded, grabbing some from under the table and pouring a bowl, sliding it across the table. The chips were white, large, and flat, and Lloyd noted that they bared certain similarities to clams.

"Can I share with you?" Lloyd asked through his clenched teeth, nervous around Skylor.

Nya nodded, then winked, before turning to Skylor. "Oh, wait, do we still have any of that Wasabi-Guacamole?'

Skylor rolled her eyes. "I'm not supposed to sell it yet. We're not finished experimenting. But, yes, you two can have some as long as you don't charge anyone for it and don't share it with anyone else."

She pulled a small, chilled tupperware from a private fridge, and handed it to Nya, who opened it and set it between the two of them.

"What are you majoring in, Lloyd?" Skylor asked, switching to English rather jarringly.

"Er-" He swallowed a piece of chip suddenly, surprised by Skylor's sudden switch. At least Nya was gradual when she did that. "Fish and Wildlife Management?"

"Neat," Skylor nodded, waving to a pair of customers leaving the store. The store was all but empty at this point besides the three of them. Skylor glanced at the kitchen. "Okay, I think lunch rush is pretty much over except for, you know," She nodded, and Nya smiled knowingly. "So if you want to talk to Kai, now would be an ideal time."

"What-" Lloyd started to ask, but Nya took his hand and pulled him towards the kitchen.

"I'll explain later," She hissed. Later, it turns out, was as soon as they entered the two kitchen doors. "Chen's Noodle house has a regular customer every afternoon who's… kind of a stereotype. Just- if you see a guy in brown bragging about kung-fu and animals, just ignore him."

"Oh," Lloyd answered. "That's weird."

Nya shrugged, leading him towards the back of the restaurant, towards one of the cooks. "Yo, Kai!" She shouted, waving. He waved back.

"Put on a hairnet," Kai shouted back, adding some wine to a wok he was holding. "If the health inspector saw you in here- NYA!"

Nya grabbed a couple hair nets and handed one to Lloyd. "Put this on. Kai's paranoid about hair in food. Health inspectors are two, though."

Lloyd struggled to shove his fuzzy blonde mop of hair into a proper hairnet, and as soon as he could, Kai let them over to where he was currently cooking with literal flaming alcohol, stir-frying carnitas.

"Kai, this is Lloyd," Nya introduced him, and Kai killed the heat, sliding the meat out of the pan onto a pan and setting down the wok. "Lloyd, this is my brother Kai."

Kai nodded to Lloyd. "Pleased to meet you, Lloyd." His voice was pleasant, but his eyes told a different story. They calmly stated: "if you hurt my sister, you won't be breathing anymore".

Lloyd shuddered. "It's uh, um, nice to meet you too. Are you a chef, or..?"

Kai nodded. "Yup. Chef and co-owner of Chen's Noodle house."

"Skylor's the other co-owner," Nya whispered to Lloyd, and he had to bite his lip to keep from laughing. "You wanna go outside?"

"You guys going somewhere?" Kai asked, folding his arms and raising his eyebrows at Nya.

"We're going out," Nya answered. "I'll be back by the dinner rush, don't worry."

Kai was about to protest to his sister leaving with a foreign boy he barely knew, but before he could get a word in edgewise, Nya had already pulled Lloyd out of the back door and into a back alleyway.

"You doing okay?" She asked. "Was Kai making you uncomfortable?"

"Yeah," Lloyd sighed. "He's… intimidating?"

Nya snorted as an effort to conceal laughter. "Yeah, he can be intimidating sometimes. Sorry about that. What do you want to do?"

"Actually, there's this really nice bakery with cinnamon rolls that's on a pond," Lloyd answered, desperately hoping Nya didn't think he was babyish for liking to watch the swans on the pond. Once, he'd even seen some Cygnets.

"Neat," Nya looked excited. "Should we head over there for our… um… get together?"

Lloyd laughed, which caused Nya to laugh, which filled Lloyd with such a warm bubbly feeling, he couldn't help but agree. "Of course. I can't wait."

And he really couldn't.

* * *

**A/N: *Bonks head on desk* Why *bonk* did *bonk* this *bonk* oneshot *bonk* have *bonk* to *bonk* take *bonk* so *bonk* long!? *Final Bonk***

**Sorry about that. Anyway, all's well that ends well, after all, and this is finally finished.**

**Next time on AU Oneshots: Elbert The Cookie's Futuristic request!**


	24. Hacked

**Previously on AU Oneshots: Lloyd X Nya**

**Request: a ****futuristic world where everyone has computer chips in their wrists that act like credit cards and phones at the same time. Lloyds chip gets hacked and makes him say pop up ads all the time. like when Morro possessed Lloyd. And one of the ninjas helped him get it out.**

**Requested by: Elbert The Cookie**

**Warnings: N/A**

**Pairings: N/A**

**AU: Futuristic AU**

**A/N: Cole isn't in this. If I write a sequel, I'll add him- as a separate plot. Also, this became delightfully **_**Other Side**_ **reminiscent, and I love it.**

**NOTE: THIS STORY CONTAINS ASPECTS OF CUTTING IF YOU ARE SQUEAMISH ABOUT SCRAPING OFF SKIN CELLS, CUTTING YOURSELF, OR OTHER SIMILAR THINGS, YOU'VE BEEN WARNED**

**Hacked**

"Have your chips ever glitched out?" Lloyd asked his friends one chilly morning in Ninjago city.

All five of them, Nya, Kai, Zane, Jay, and… Lloyd himself, obviously, were sitting in their seats, waiting for class to begin. Ninjago City was one of the most technologically advanced cities in the world. Outside, air trains and self-driving cars swarmed past. In front of each student sat a tablet computer with a stylus, connecting them to the vast internet ahead of them.

In the year 2088, a law was passed that encouraged online school, and with the influx of androids and robots, digital teachers mainly controlled each class. Students did meet once a week for a physical lesson, mostly in psychology, as studies had proved this helpful.

"No, why?" Nya asked, kicking her feet against the white tile floor of the classroom, leaving a grey scuff mark. "Is yours glitching?"

"Mine did once," Zane answered. "It was terrifying, but my father took me to the hospital, and they fixed it."

"What was that like?" Kai asked, instantly interested by the prospect of something 'cool' happening. "Did it hurt? Did it feel weird?"

"It didn't hurt," Zane shrugged, "But it put me into a MIC for a few days until the doctors and surgeons could fix it."

"Why'd it happen?" Jay asked, sitting on his knees and leaning forward to chat with his friends. "And what's a MIC?"

"Medically induced coma," Nya answered Jay.

"There was a glitch a couple of years ago that only affected 1/10000 citizen chips. I just… happened to be unlucky, I suppose."

The group fell silent, pondering what Zane had said. Lloyd secretly rubbed the tiny steel chip under the skin of his wrist, wondering if that was happening to him too. Lately, he'd begun to get weird messages and thoughts in his head that didn't belong to him.

"Why'd you-" Nya started, but she was cut off as their teacher walked into the room.

"Welcome, students," Mr. Wu smiled at the children in his classroom. "I apologize for being so late today, there was an incident with the air trains, which I'm sure you've already known about."

The class mumbled in agreement. Chips transmitted the latest news and stories, so everyone was always up-to-date with information. The latest information about the wars in the southeast to the newest funny texts and cat videos was always at citizen's fingertips- or rather, in them.

Wu straightened his shirt and looked over the class. "As you all know, the curriculum required that we have at least five student-led discussion days a semester. How do all of you feel about completing our first one today?"

Kai shrugged "Sounds good to me."

"I'm fine with it," Jay added.

Nya shrugged, and Zane nodded.

Lloyd bit his lip. "Sure, I guess. What are we going to talk about?"

"That's up to you all to decide," Wu smiled. "Does anyone have any ideas?" While talking, he hit a button on the teacher's desk, then entered a keycode and scanned his chip, allowing all of the desks in the room to neatly slide into a circle so the class could see each other's faces.

"We could talk about Starf-" Jay started, but he was cut off by Kai.

"Oh for the love of the First Spinjitzu Master, NO!" Kai snapped. "This isn't Comic-Con!"

"You don't need to be at Comic-Con to talk about Starfarerer, farthead," Jay folded his arms, looking way too uppity to have just called his classmate 'farthead'. "You can talk about it whenever you want."

Kai looked like he was about to call Jay something worse than 'farthead', but fortunately, Nya switched the subject before he could try anything. "Is it possible to get a virus in your chip?" She asked.

Wu brightened. "It is actually possible. I'm glad you brought that up, Nya." He sat down at the teacher's chair and turned on the hologram projector in the center of the room, displaying a couple of bright lines of code. "This is a strand of coding from one of those such 'viruses'. The M.O.R.R.O program."

_Morro? _Lloyd spelled out in his head. _Have I heard that before?_

"Why would someone write a program to intentionally harm others?" Zane asked, his eyebrows knitting together nervously. "And… what did it do?"

Wu smiled. "Good question, Zane. This particular program wasn't made to hurt people. Many years ago, probably before you all were born, I helped develop M.O.R.R.O for Kryptarium prison. When the program detects violence, it creates an electrical shock that can eventually immobilize a prisoner. When two prisoners would fight, the virus would jump to the other fighter's chip, eventually stopping riots."

"Why was it a virus?" Nya tapped her stylus against her desk. "It sounds like it could work pretty well."

Wu sighed deeply. "Nowadays, we have measures in place to defend against coded strands becoming sentient, and when we do, they are particularly programmed in that way. M.O.R.R.O existed before those safeguards. Even though the guards had a blocking program running on their chips, the police did not, and when a police officer tried to help with an escapee, M.O.R.R.O was transmitted to him and it spread from there. The virus was smart, it could replicate advertisements and news, urging those it affected to be even more violent, as that would cause it to spread. It worked similarly to an actual virus."

"How'd they stop it?" Jay asked, sitting on his knees to see the coded strands better. "Is it gone forever?"

Wu nodded slightly, opening a search engine page. "The virus has a manual deactivation Killcode, that's also a part of the central programming. This was put in place so if M.O.R.R.O became sentient, it couldn't reverse or change the code. A genius work of coding if I do say so myself."

The class shuffled around, looking at one another. Finally, Kai opened his mouth. "Does M.O.R.R.O still exist anywhere, or did they eradicate it?"

Wu shut down the projector. "The Ninjago City museum currently holds the last strain of the M.O.R.R.O Program in their Online Relics area.-"

"The Online Relics Area?" Lloyd interrupted panic beginning to build in his chest. "Is that the rooms with the statues and armor?"

"Oh, why yes," Wu nodded. "You've been there with your mother, haven't you?"

But Lloyd wasn't listening. Panic was throbbing in his body as he gripped the edges of his desk nervously, his knuckles turning white. He remembered that morning in the museum. He remembered knocking over a display case. He remembered a dragon-shaped glass bottle with a USB port shattering on the floor. But after that… nothing.

"What would happen, if, uh, hypothetically, someone, um, got the M.O.R.R.O program in their chip?" Lloyd asked, barely able to choke out the question through his hyperventilating.

"Well, it wouldn't activate very quickly," Wu answered. "The M.O.R.R.O program only activates after the holder gets into a fight or commits an act of violence, even in self-defense."

Lloyd nodded, sighing in relief. He hadn't fought anyone since that day at the museum, so all he had to do was head to the hospital to have them enter the killcode to his chip. Easy.

If only he could've known how dangerous M.O.R.R.O could be.

* * *

Stupid, stupid, stupid.

Lloyd was so _stupid_. He was an _idiot_. He was so dumb to think he could just get home without incident. But no. Playing around with Kai and Jay on the way to the air trains, he had shoved Kai a little too hard and felt it for the first time. A shock. A tiny jolt of electricity in his wrist. Panic began to spike through him as he ran home from the air train stop.

Running inside, he threw his backpack on the floor of his room and ran to his parent's room. Digging under their bed, he found his mom's antique apple laptop and pulled it out. Opening it up, he typed in the password (which was just the date they'd gotten it) and opened Chrome. Trembling, he tried to calm himself. He was allowed on this laptop, as long as he didn't break it. Was he worried about the virus? All he had to do was look up the killcode, and then everything would be fine.

He took a breath, then began typing 'M.O.R.R.O Virus Killcode' into the search engine. Before he could hit enter, however, his arm froze, chip buzzing.

Nervously, Lloyd opened the hologram on his wrist and selected 'messages'.

"**INTERNAL ERROR MESSAGE: PLEASE CONTACT YOUR MANUFACTURER IF MISREAD AS SPAM"** Was scrolling across the screen. Lloyd bit his lip, then selected 'open anyway' and braced himself for the message.

The only thing written there were the words "I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Lloyd stared at it for a few seconds, before closing the message and looking back at the laptop screen. It was probably just a joke message to scare him. Maybe it was a prank. Maybe Jay did it. Yeah. That made sense. Jay was good with electronics. It was probably just a prank.

Lloyd hit enter-

PAIN.

PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN PAIN.

Lloyd trids to scream but his convulsing, electrified body didn't let him. He could barely breathe. He could barely move. Everything hurt… so, so, bad…

Finally, the pain receded, and Lloyd was left sobbing on the carpet, staring at his arm, lying in an odd position, his neck crooked weird.

The messages lit up again, and from the same number: "I told you. I'm a virus. I can possess anything."

Lloyd rubbed his aching head, and in a blind panic, he opened the settings function of the chip, swiping through until he found 'shut down options'. Selecting that, he scrolled quickly down until he found 'routine maintenance manual shutdown'. He pressed the button and felt the chip slowly power down.

Sighing, Lloyd blinked, the whirring sounds that normally filled his ears gone. He stared at his wrist, horrified. He couldn't enter the code without turning on the chip, but when he turned on the chip, M.O.R.R.O could gain control of his body.

Panicking, Lloyd observed his arm. Chips were embedded into the epidermis, the top layer of the skin, meaning Lloyd could probably get it out if he tried.

Shutting the laptop, he ran towards his room, laptop in tow, and grabbed some supplies from the bathroom, a pin, a pair of tweezers, and a nail clipper.

Sitting on the floor of his room, he grabbed the nail clippers in his hand, his hand shaking. He willed it to stop, then nervously nipped his own skin.

Nothing happened.

Lloyd tried a couple more times, before grabbing the pin and gingerly stabbing himself until he felt the chip. It was tiny, only 5 mm wide and 2 long. It was thin, too, very thin. Fortunately, he didn't bleed, as the chip was so lightly in that it didn't touch any blood vessels.

Grabbing the tweezers, he dug around for a second but began to panic when he just pushed it in further.

Panicking, he tried to grab it and cut himself. Glaring, he slammed down the tweezers and sat back on his ankles, about to cry.

Just then, the doorbell rang.

Lloyd panicked, shoving the tweezers and pin under his bed and leapt up, running through the apartment. "ALEXA, UNLOCK THE FRONT DOOR!"

He arrived, gasping, and opened the door to see Kai and Jay standing at the door.

"You wanna hang?" Kai asked, looking over Jay's head. "Sorry Nya's not here, she had Tiquando lessons."

"Uh…" Lloyd though for a few seconds. If he let them in, they could help, but he didn't want to get them infected. "Um…"

"We could play smash at your house?" Jay suggested. "Y'know, because you have that cool Nintendo Switch One!"

"Uh, yeah!" Lloyd jumped at the idea. If his friends were here, that made him feel a lot safer, and a lot less likely to have to deal with M.O.R.R.O. "C'mon in."

Jay looked around curiously, constantly freaking out over old electronic relics in the house. Quote: "Woah, is that a second-gen smart fridge?" "Awesome, a flip phone!" "YOU GUYS HAVE AN ALEXA!?"

This led to a disgruntled Kai punching him to get him to shut up. "Hey, I texted you. Why didn't you answer?"

Lloyd pinked. "Um, no reason." He bit his lip. "Oh, look, we're in the living room. You guys wanna get set up, I need to grab something from my room."

Jogging away from his friends, Lloyd grabbed the computer, and the tweezers, before stabbing at the chip once again.

It buzzed in his arm, and a strangely artificial voice spoke through his earpieces. "Did you really think that shutting down your chip could stop me? Do you know how many prisoners tried that?"

Finally giving into his overwhelming panic, Lloyd screamed as the M.O.R.R.O voice in his head began to laugh, shocking the air out of his lungs. He tried to scream again but choked on his own saliva.

Morro laughed, taunting him. "You're so sweet. So innocent. I don't think I'll kill you quite yet." He purred, his angry artificial voice bleeding into Lloyd's brain.

Lloyd tried to cry, but only tears spilled from his eyes. He vaguely spotted Kai and Jay running into his room, panicking and grabbing at him, and then, nothing.

* * *

"WHAT'S WRONG WITH HIM!?" Kai panicked, grabbing his convulsing friend as Jay snatched up the laptop, flinging it open after checking the bottom, then entering the password.

"And… how'd you know that?" Kai asked, wrinkling his nose as a nervous Jay looked over the open Google Chrome page.

"He's got M.O.R.R.O," Jay squeaked. "We have to help him!"

"I don't know how?!" Kai snapped, moving Lloyd to the bed. "Can't we just remove his chip? It looks like he was trying to do that himself!"

"No, that'll make it worse," Jay opened a program and clicked through a couple of puzzles with hedges and odd-looking letters. "Okay… FSM there's a firewall!?"

"What are you doing? Lloyd is hurting and you're play-"

"I'm trying to help him!" Jay snarled, surprising Kai. "Firewall, firewall… uh… there!" He tapped in a code, breaking through into random code. "This is the code behind Lloyd's chip. All I need to do is locate M.O.R.R.O."

They spent a few tense seconds scrolling through code until Jay discovered the input and entered the code. "This should fix it!"

The code didn't do anything.

"WHat do we do!?" Kai shouted, tears streaming from his eyes as he tried to hold a convulsing Lloyd. "He could DIE!"

"I KNOW!?" Jay was practically in tears at this point. "It was supposed to work! WHY ISN'T IT WORKING!?"

Kai grabbed one of Lloyd's earpieces and paled. "You have to hear this." He handed the small, white earbud to Jay, who took a listen.

"Your friends are fools if they think that code will stop me, I am the greatest virus ever born, the can't-" Jay dropped the earbud, and grabbed the mouse, scrolling down while scanning the code.

"What is it?" Kai asked, looking over his shoulder.

"The source code!" Jay answered, searching through a few more lines of code. "The killcode doesn't need to be entered…" He selected a line of code and pressed 'delete'. "It needs to be removed."

The second the code was missing, a horrible screech issued from Lloyd's earpieces, slowly dying out as the rest of the code simultaneously self-destructed.

Lloyd slowly stopped convulsing, but as Kai held him, he sighed. "I still think we should take him to a hospital."

"Already on it, Buddy," Jay answered, nodding to Kai.

"Thanks, and hey-!" Kai exclaimed. "Don't call me Buddy!"

Jay smirked at him as the paramedics arrived.

* * *

Two days later, Lloyd and his mother were talking to Dr. Borg at Ninjago Cyborg Relations Hospital while waiting to be discharged.

"Well, Lloyd, I must say, you're lucky to be alive right now," Dr. Borg leaned back in his wheelchair, "Had it not been for your friends, you very well could've died that afternoon."

"Lloyd, I am so sorry I didn't warn you about M.O.R.R.O while we were at the museum," Misako, his mother, apologized.

Lloyd smiled slightly. "Honestly, I'm just glad to be here."

"Thanks to you, however," Dr. Borg smiled. "We will be adding virus safeguards to all chips from now on. In the form of an interactive assistant, or... friend. Now, I took the liberty of giving you and your friends the same one, just as a thank you gift and apology for what happened. I do hope that you will enjoy him."

"Thank you, Dr. Borg," Lloyd nodded, looking at his neatly stitched up armed. "Anything else I should worry about?"

Dr. Borg chuckled. "No, Lloyd, believe me, you're free to go."

And he was.

* * *

That night, Lloyd opened his chip and selected the program 'digital friend'.

It lit up quickly, displaying a hologram of a black-haired muscular boy. He smiled, spotting Lloyd. "Hi there, I'm Cole, your virus safeguard and digital friend. It's nice to meet you, Lloyd."

Lloyd grinned, excited. "It's nice to meet you too, Cole. Tell me how you block against viruses?"

"Using only the best virus blocking technology of the decade, I can defend against thousands of viruses, from spam emails to trojan viruses," Cole answered. "Anything else?"

Lloyd smiled. Tonight, for the first time in nearly a week, he was finally going to be able to relax.

* * *

**A/N: Well, this took forever. I apologize for the random breaks in writing, I've been having a little bit of mental health trouble recently, and it's begun to bleed over into this.**

**Also, I now have a Wattpad and AO3 account, just to kinda, get my stuff out there, y'know?**

***shameless self-promotion* Anyway, I also started a Skybound-Jaya AU called 'My Heart At The Top Of The Sky', so if you like Jaya, it might be worth checking out.**

**Next time on AU Oneshots: CaptainSteve1's request for a Llorumi!**


	25. Jadebaby

**Last Time On AU Oneshots: Lloyd gets Hacked by Morro**

**Request: ****right before they go searching for the Oni Mask of Hatred, Harumi finds out she's pregnant with Lloyd's baby, but she doesn't tell anybody. Then, months after everyone thinks she died, Lloyd discovers a VERY pregnant Harumi at a hospital, and she tells him the baby is his. Then you can take it from there.**

**Requested by: ****CaptainSteve1**

**Warnings: Teen Pregnancy**

**Pairings: Llorumi**

**AU: Pregnant… Harumi?**

**Jadebaby:**

Harumi touched the little window on the pregnancy test in her hands, gripping the pinkish-red handle with a malicious smile on her face. She watched as the first red line appeared, and then the second, feeling the adrenaline rush through her veins, causing her heart to pound against her ribcage, a bird unable to escape.

They'd done it. _She'd _done it! Besides actively ruining the Green Ninja's life with her current plans, this, this was just _delicious!_

Break his spirit, then ground him with a child. It was the perfect plan. Harumi grinned even harder, marveling at her genius. Now, her 'Quiet' position could help her ruin Lloyd's life even more.

Opening the circle-shaped bathroom window, Harumi marveled at the smarts of her plan. As it turned out, it was so easy to convince him to join her in bed. Hormones had probably helped with that. And, since she did it while his idiot teammates were distracted, she didn't have to worry about Nya or Kai finding out and beating her up.

Smirking happily, she gripped the pregnancy test in her palm and flung it from the ship as hard as she could, watching it hit the leaves and bounce out of sight.

Reaching onto the floor, she disposed of the plastic bag and cardboard box the same way, making sure to tuck the plastic inside of the box to hide it.

Pulling up her pants and flushing the toilet, she also checked under the sink, arranging the remaining boxes of pregnancy tests to hide the missing one. As she washed her hands, Harumi couldn't help but wonder why the Ninja had so many pregnancy tests anyway. (Then again, they also had an unopened jar of YIF's Peanut Butter that expired before she was born, so Harumi assumed it'd been a gag gift).

Smiling to herself about the plan, Harumi washed her hands and left the bathroom.

Boy, was Lloyd in for a surprise.

* * *

Lloyd slumped over on the steps of the Monastery, kicking up some dust as he buried his face in his hands. Ever since Harumi's death months ago, he'd been horribly depressed. His brothers had noticed this, and if they ever caught him sinking into a depressive state, they'd do anything in their power to cheer him up and get his mind off the manipulative ex-princess.

Just today, he'd already been cooking with Zane, had a Super Smash Bros tournament with Jay, gone out to the Ice Cream Parlor with Cole, and sparred with Kai. The thing was… even though he appreciated the gestures, they had begun to wear off. After all, distraction could only work so well.

Lloyd slumped over, sniffling and rubbing his eyes, water beginning to pool in them. He _missed_ her. And Lloyd knew he shouldn't miss her, but he did and it _hurt._ It hurt worse than death might be - a terrifying thought Lloyd tried not to entertain. He had a team to protect. He couldn't abandon them for the afterlife.

If he was so noble though, why'd it still hurt?

The Monastery door creaked open, and Lloyd sniffled, preparing to greet Kai or Cole or Jay or even Zane with a smile, hiding his tears. He was their _leader_, for First Spinjitzu Master's sake. He had to protect _them_, not the other way around.

"Hey," A feminine voice called, and Lloyd nearly leapt off the top stair of the staircase. He hadn't expected Nya to come and find him.

She had also made herself scarce since the Quiet One's death, no doubt grieving the loss of a potential friend. She sat down next to Lloyd, pulling her knees up to her chest and crossing her arms over them.

"Nya-"

"It sucks, doesn't it?" Nya interrupted him, picking at a worn spot on her jeans. "You think you can trust someone. You warm up to them and care about them and they turn out to be a manipulative jerk."

"Yeah," Lloyd sighed, resting his head on his hands. "But… is there-"

"Nothing's wrong with you," Nya rolled her eyes, then smirked slyly from the side of her eyes. "Not that _I_ can tell, at least." She elbowed him gently, and Lloyd couldn't help but smile.

He'd missed these warm, comforting moments with his big sister. He loved his brothers, and he knew with every fiber of his being that they'd go to the end of the universe and back for him, they had before and they would again, but Nya… he and Nya shared a deep emotional bond. She was the one he would run to when his feelings were hurt. He always knew that if he was shoved over and scraped his knee, Kai and Cole would beat up whoever did it, and Zane and Jay would clean him and bandage his wounds, but Nya would help him deal with those feelings of loneliness and betrayal.

He also knew how much of a toll it took on her psyche and that only made him more grateful for everything she did for him. He sighed. "I just wish I wasn't so attached… we… we got so close, and then…"

"I know," Nya placed an arm around Lloyd, and he gripped her for support, she was an older sister, a grounding rock in a sea of emotional torment. "You really cared about her, didn't you?"

"I mean, yeah, I loved her, but she and I… uh…" Lloyd turned red from embarrassment. "We um… we… uh… we did _it_," He looked away, not able to look Nya in the eyes from shame. "It… I uh… I lost-"

"If she wasn't already dead, I'd kill her!" Nya snarled, glancing at Lloyd with rage in her eyes. "How… how dare she do that to you!? How dare she think she can strip my little brother of his innocence and then destroy him!?" Grabbing a branch from a nearby tree, Nya snapped it over her knee with a grunt of fury. "How dare she!?"

"Nya, I'm sorry, if I knew this would make you so-"

Nya took a deep breath in and relaxed her muscles. "Don't you dare say that!" She snapped at him. "This wasn't your fault. It still isn't your fault. Just… don't blame yourself, okay?"

Lloyd nodded, looking at the earth of the stairs, imagining what would happen if Harumi burst through at that very moment. Would he hate her? Would he drop to his knees to apologize? Would he care? Nya would probably kill her, along with the rest of his siblings, and Master Wu, and Misako, and Ronin, and Skylor, and the entire Elemental Alliance, and Firstbourne, and… well, actually probably not Dareth, but definitely a bunch of people.

The door creaked open again, and Nya looked up, almost furious until she realized it was Jay looking around the door. "Oh," He smiled at Nya. "I was looking for you. We just got called to the hospital."

Nya's brow furrowed. "All of us?"

Jay shrugged. "That's what they said. Weird, right?"

Lloyd shrugged, "Huh. I guess."

Jay started, almost slamming the door. "Lloyd! I didn't see you there! Sorry, I should've said hi."

"You're okay," Lloyd shrugged. "The hospital."

Jay nodded, and Lloyd and Nya raced inside after him to prepare. Weird, but nothing that they couldn't deal with.

If only they knew.

* * *

A handful of Ninja vehicles screeched to a stop outside of Ninjago City Memorial Hospital, the colorful heroes scrambling out towards the building. In front stood Chief Operating Officer, Dr. Bright, head of the hospital. He was adjusting his glasses and curly red hair nervously, the ruby pendant around his neck bouncing with his movements.

"Ninja," He sighed as Lloyd led his teammates in front of Dr. Bright. "Thank goodness you're here."

"What's the situation like, Doctor?" Lloyd asked, pulling his hood back so he could see Dr. Bright's eyes easier. "Why'd you call us here?"

"We… we didn't know what else to do," He sighed. "There's a case of… well, er…. It's complicated. We figured that the best team to deal with it would be the Ninja."

"What did you do? Find Slenderman?" Jay asked, trying to lighten the situation.

Dr. Bright chuckled. "No, Mr. Walker, unfortunately, the situation at hand is more serious than a simple anomalies entity." He opened the door, the cold air-conditioned air of the hospital rushing out to greet them. Jay and Nya made eye contact, and Nya shrugged. Kai and Cole, meanwhile, looked like they'd rather be anywhere else but here at that moment.

"How about I show you our… issue?" Dr. Bright asked Lloyd, leading them through a patient waiting area and into a… maternity ward? The Doctor bit his lip. "This is Maternity Ward 19, which specializes in prenatal care and birthing."

"Why would there be a problem in the _Maternity _ward?" Cole asked, his brow furrowing. Ever since the events with baby/toddler/child/teenager Wu, he had begun to display more affection to small children and babies. Zane, Nya, and Lloyd thought this was sweet. Jay and Kai (mostly Kai) found it annoying as Cursed Realm. "Is there, like, a supernatural baby?"

Dr. Bright sighed. "I think it might be best if you saw for yourselves." He led them down a long hallway, brightly lit with fluorescent light bulbs. Lloyd gazed up at one, fondly remembering his childhood training sessions with the Ninja. A part of him would always grieve his lost childhood, his lost innocence, but he'd accepted who he was and what he did. It was for the best, after all.

Dr. Bright finally stopped them at a certain door on the corridor, labeled 029, as it was on the ground floor. He knocked twice, shortly and briskly. A nurse opened and they exchanged a few brisk words.

"She only wants to see the Green Ninja," The nurse said, eyeing the weapons the group was carrying with suspicion. "Is that alright?"

Lloyd swallowed nervously, then nodded. "Yeah. I'll be fine. What's up with the patient?"

The nurse glanced at Dr. Bright. "You might as well see."

Lloyd followed the older female nurse into the room, and his senses began taking in aspects of the room. The white walls, a bathroom at the side, the bed, a plump blonde nurse chatting with the patient while fluffing the pillows. Then he noticed the patient.

Partially covered by a dingy yellow hospital comforter while laughing to the nurse. She was young, maybe around 15, her long, platinum blonde hair tied up with a scrunchie. Her large, visibly pregnant belly was protruding under the blankets.

Lloyd couldn't tell who it was until she looked away from the nurse and he caught a glimpse of her. She looked the exact same as when he'd last seen her, on the roof of that building. Everything was the same. The scar on her temple, the way her green eyes glittered in the light, her immaculate skin, her plump lips…

Harumi smiled sweetly from the bed. "Hello, Lloyd."

Lloyd gasped so hard because his body WASN'T GETTING ENOUGH AIR! He gasped like a fish on land, trying fruitlessly to fill his lungs. His heart pounded so hard he could hear the blood rushing through his ears. He stumbled backwards into a nearby nurse and clawed his way out, nearly kicking down the door as he stumbled out of that horrible, horrible, horrible room.

He nearly collapsed as he reached his brothers. Kai and Zane leapt forward to break his fall and hold him up. Commotion ensued as Nya spotted Harumi and, with a scream of rage, had to be held back by Cole and Jay, both who were panicking.

Dr. Bright slammed the door, but not before Lloyd got a good look at Harumi, grinning and smirking, pleased with the commotion she'd caused.

At one point, Jay and Kai switched places, Kai trying to calm down his furious sister, and Jay coming to stand in front of Lloyd.

"Hey Lloyd, breathe!" Jay said, snapping at Lloyd's face to get his attention. "Come on, count with me. Inhale… one... two… three… Exhale…- Lloyd!? LLOYD!? DOCTOR, HE'S-"

The world spiraled away from Lloyd into darkness.

* * *

Lloyd awoke on a stretcher, being wheeled into a room with his brothers surrounding him. Kai was keeping pace with the stretcher, his hand slid into Lloyd's trying to either comfort himself or the younger boy. Lloyd was immensely grateful that his siblings had been there for him. He didn't know what he would have done otherwise.

As they were taken into a room, Lloyd looked up at Kai, squeezing his friend's hand as best he could. Kai glanced at him. "I'm so, sorry, Lloyd. I- We, uh… none of us meant for this to happen. Dr. Bright told us that- (please don't pass out again)- the baby that Harumi is carrying… it's yours."

Lloyd nearly choked. "She used protection. The morning-after pills in the First-Aid Kit."

Kai shrugged. "Those aren't always reliable." He sighed again, touching Lloyd's shoulder as the rest of the Ninja burst into the room. "We're going to figure this out together, okay? You're not alone, you understand?"

Lloyd nodded, glancing at the other Ninja as they crowded around his bedside, offering apologies and such. "Guys!" Lloyd interrupted, trying to get a word in. "Look, what are we going to do?!"

"With… what?" Jay asked. "Harumi? We can just leave her here-"

"I… I guess… yeah," Lloyd looked at his hands. "We could do that. But what about the baby?"

"Harumi got pregnant to ruin your life," Nya answered matter-of-factly, folding her arms. "The best way to get back at her, is to _not_ let it ruin your life."

Everyone glanced at Nya.

"What I'm saying is," She specified. "Put the baby up for adoption. Closed. Adoption. Don't let Harumi ruin your life. Don't give her what she wants."

"Wait, why does the adoption have to be closed?" Zane asked. "Your plan could function with an open adoption."

"Oh, and Dr. Bright said that they're throwing Harumi in prison, and she's not going to have any power with custody, so you won't have to deal with her ever," Jay added, glancing at Kai for the fire ninja's input.

"I agree with Nya," Kai added. "Minimal contact will probably help with your emotional state." He eyed Cole. "What do you think?"

"Uh," Cole averted his eyes, not looking at anyone, but Lloyd could see Cole's brow furrowing the way it did when he felt like he was being selfish. It wasn't something he did often, so it was easily identifiable. "I…"

"Well?" Jay asked, poking his friend in the ribs. "What do you think?"

"I… want to keep it," Cole answered, his voice coming out an intelligible mumble. "I- I mean, if you need someone to adopt, I'd be happy to…" He trailed off, his normally olive skin turning a shade of deep red that rivaled Kai's gi.

Everyone stared at Cole for a long moment before Zane broke the silence. "That makes sense, Cole. It would be reasonable for you to wish to care for another child besides Master Wu."

Kai shrugged. "Checks out. If Lloyd's cool with it, I don't see why not."

"I agree with Kai," Jay added. "If Lloyd thinks that it's going to be alright, then-"

"Now hold on a minute," Nya cut in, folding her arms tighter, in her no-nonsense 'I'm-the-only-reasonable-one-here' pose. "Cole's a Ninja. We're all Ninja. What business do we have raising a baby?!"

"Cole did a good job of it-"

"I know!" Nya snapped. "But that was baby _Wu_. It made sense for us to infatuated with him. This baby can easily go into adoption and turn out absolutely fine-"

"What if it doesn't?" Lloyd cut her off. "What if it turns out like Harumi?"

"It's not going to turn out like Harumi," Nya glared at him. "You don't inherit those behaviors, you learn them."

"You don't know that for sure," Lloyd countered. "What if… fifteen or so years from now we need to deal with another vengeful 'princess' who never met her father. What then?"

"And this is why Lloyd's in charge," Jay added, grinning.

Lloyd caught Kai very close to slapping the Lightning Ninja upside the head.

"Look, I think we just need to think about it," Lloyd told Nya. "I'll tell you my decision by the time the baby's born. Okay?"

"Okay," Nya sighed, sitting on one of the nearby seats against the wall. Jay came and wrapped an arm around her pleasantly.

"It's getting pretty late," Zane pointed out. "Perhaps we should go and get something to eat?"

"We can order takeout?" Cole suggested.

"I'm on it!" Kai nearly shouted, grabbing his BorgPhone and leaving the room to make the call.

"Sheesh," Jay rolled his eyes. "The guy's in love with a girl who owns a restaurant, and we eat there all the time! What's wrong with diversity?"

"You sound like your mom," Cole snickered. "Also, we get ridiculous discounts from Chen's, so I'm not complaining."

Lloyd smiled, watching how his brothers behaved. They were a family. They'd always been a family. Lloyd had already made his decision, but he wouldn't tell them quite yet, they needed time. He just hoped their dynamic wouldn't be too thrown off by a new addition to the family.

* * *

**Five years later…**

"Dad, why's the sky blue?"

"Dad, why are those squirrels fighting?"

"Dad, how many stars are there?"

"Dad, what does a moose look like?"

"Dad, who's the King of Ninjago?"

"Dad, where's the Dark Island?"

"When can I go to school, Dad!?"

"Sheesh, Lloyd, she's almost as annoying as you were!" Jay snickered as the Green and Blue Ninjas sat on the walkway around the courtyard. Across the courtyard, Cole was trying to get Sage to stop asking so many questions so he could explain the answers to her.

"Ha, ha, Jay," Lloyd elbowed his brother. "Very funny!"

"Hey, does it ever bother you that Sage calls Cole 'dad' and not you?" Jay suddenly asked, after finishing snickering. He looked across the courtyard as Cole was now trying to explain that no, Sage could not keep a raven as a pet. "I mean, she's technically yours. She looks more like you than him."

Lloyd shrugged. "Why should she? He's the only dad she's ever had. I've never been there for her the way he has. Cole's earned the right to be called dad. I never have."

"Huh," Jay shrugged. "That makes sense-"

Kai and Nya burst through the doors a few moments later, both breathless and wide-eyed. "Guys, there's been a break-in at the aquarium, and Pythor stole that mutant fangfish!" Kai tried to explain, hyperventilating.

"He's using it to hold an elementary school hostage!" Nya added, gasping for breath. "Come on, we can still stop him!"

"Stay with Master Wu," Cole told Sage. "We'll be back soon."

"Bye, Dad!" Sage waved, trotting inside to Misako's study. "See you soon."

Jay ran over to hop into Nya's water skimmer, and Lloyd smiled at the chaotic bustling around him. Such was the life of a Ninja.

He hoped it'd never change.

* * *

**A/N: Well, this was incredibly challenging to write XD. Why must you people insist on giving me difficult prompts!? (I'm just kidding, heh heh…)**

**Next time on AU Oneshots: Northern Goshawk's Angsty AU (I'm considering doing something based on the Battle of Fort Sumter, let me know what you think)**


	26. Battletorn

**Last Time On AU Oneshots: Harumi is pregnant**

**Request: ****Request: Kailor, maybe with some intense angst. AU: Either a War or Assassin AU. Either works **

**Requested by: Northern Goshawk**

**Warnings: War, blood**

**Pairings: Kailor**

**AU: War.**

**Note: This was supposed to take place in the 1300's. I got mixed up and it's probably closer to the 1200's instead. Also, I get it, people from Mongolia rarely have natural red hair or green eyes. I don't want to try and racebend these guys and accidentally offend someone, okay?**

**Battletorn**

Mornings on the Steppe were cold.

Kai crept outside of the warm Yurt he shared with his brothers, glancing at the vast, grey sky. The sky that went on forever. The sky that sheltered the nomadic horse-riders of the Steppe. He glanced back inside at his brothers, flopped out wherever there was space. Lloyd was halfway out of a hammock about to fall on Cole, and Jay and Nya were snuggling (ew). Zane was asleep softly breathing near the door.

Kai finally pulled the hide door shut and left the area. Creeping through the camp, he was careful not to wake anyone with his footsteps as he slipped between yurts. Finally he found one of his family's horses, his favorite, Flame. The broad-shouldered stallion was grazing near a flock of sheep, but he glanced up when he smelled Kai.

"Hey, boy," Kai approached the stallion and patted his warm shoulders with his bare fingers. Flame tossed his head. "I need you for a minute."

Grabbing Flame's mane, Kai swung up on the stallion and clicked his tongue. Flame stopped grazing and looked up, ears alert. Kai gingerly pressed the stallion's side, urging his mount forward. As soon as they were far enough from camp, Kai urged Flame into a fierce gallop, thundering across the frosty ground towards a thin creek a few kilometers from the camp. It was too far to be used by Khan Chen and his people, or by Kai's family clan, making it the ideal spot for a meetup.

Approaching the creek, Kai slowed flame, trotting up to the small pool created by the water. A second horse, a young mare, was drinking from the creek, her rider, Kai's girlfriend Skylor, fingering the mare's mane. Kai dismounted as soon as he got close, and let go of Flame, allowing his stallion to greet the mare how he saw fit.

"You came," Skylor looked up, her green eyes sparkling with amused surprise.

"Don't sound so surprised," Kai answered playfully, folding his arms and tucking his hands beneath his arms to stay warm. "I can keep agreements."

"Oh?" The redhead raised an eyebrow. "Past events would suggest otherwise." She moved closer to him, and Kai could see the way their cloudy breath mingled with each other's and with the horses. It tied them to the earth, to the Steppe. To the horses, and to each other.

The two of them sat down, and Kai happily placed an arm around Skylor as she leaned into him happily. It was quite a bit warmer to lean against one another than to be by themselves.

"How did you sneak out?" Kai asked, adjusting his leg and pulling Skylor closer to his chest. "With your dad?"

"You think he cares what I do?" Skylor asked, blowing out a breath of air while leaning against Kai warmly. "He didn't notice."

"Are… you still sure about this?" Kai asked, tugging at Skylor's soft hair. "We don't have to kill him. We can back off and let him-"

"No, Kai," Skylor answered. "For the sake of my clan, and for the sake of yours, he… he has to die. In the tradition of the Steppe, I am the only heir to the clan, and you and I can disband it as we see fit."

"Are you sure your tribe will be accepting of… all this?" Kai asked. "I mean, I know a lot of them hate Chen, but, you and I haven't done the traditional work or anything like that."

"Kai…" Skylor poked his ribs gently. "I think they'll understand. At least, my sisters might. Toxicita and Chamille may understand."

"Wait," Kai pulled back a bit to look into Skylor's eyes. "How are they not-"

"I'm the oldest," Skylor explained. "And they're not old enough to be married yet. Our clan is made up of a lot of little families, not like yours. If your brother Cole died, you or Zane would become leader in his place. Because of my father's control, if he died, chaos and war would break out. I can't let that happen."

Kai smiled at her. "When did you become such a leader?"

Skylor sighed. "I'm not a leader, I'm just good at making sure people don't kill each other, y'know what? Nevermind. Our plan will work as long as there's no ensuing chaos and people don't initiate murder."

"Besides us, right?" Kai asked, joking around.

Skylor chuckled and shook her head. "You're adorable."

Kai mock-frowned and folded his arms. "Excuse me, I'm terrifying and dangerous."

"Okay, okay, I believe you," Skylor answered as the two of them got up, taking their horses from the creek. "Are you going to be able to explain what's going on to your brothers and Nya?"

"Nya _is_ one of my brothers," Kai grinned. "But, yeah, it'll be easy to convince them that I'm going hunting. They'll buy that, at least for a while."

Skylor smiled and nodded. "There's a river near our camp. I'll meet you in the reeds on the far bank. We always have people moving through the camp, so I don't think anyone will notice you as different. Meet me halfway to sunhigh, okay?"

Kai nodded. "I got it."

Before mounting their horses, the two spent a moment embracing one another. Kai felt Skylor slip her woolen gloves into his pocket. It was a known fact on the Steppe that smell and breath carried a part of a person's soul, and by doing this, Skylor gave him a part of herself. Kai wished he had something to give her in return, but without wealth, he didn't have anything to give her. Instead, he pressed her tighter, giving her a kiss on the side of the mouth.

Skylor let out a soft sigh of pleasure and kissed him back for a moment before the two of them pulled apart. They did not speak while mounting their horses, but as they left their secret spring, both shouted for the fierce joy of the morning, their calls echoing against mountains and through windswept grass. Fierce love sprouted in Kai's chest. Love for the Steppe, love for Skylor, love for riding across the grass, love for his brothers and for hunting and for raids. Kai loved the chaotic life of the steppe. By killing Chen, this was the only way he could cement the life he'd grown to love.

Letting out a joyous shout, Flame whinnying beneath him, Kai thundered towards home.

* * *

Kai heard Chen Khan's camp before he saw it. Hunters and warriors of the powerful Khan galloped with their horses through the grasslands, patrolling the outskirts of the territory. Kai found a large group and rode as close to it as he could, Flame's thundering steps melding in with the other warriors. Fortunately, this patrol was low class like himself, allowing him to blend in easily. Chen was insistent on keeping traditional Steppe values while also trying to unify everyone, and his attempts at keeping those in power in power took a toll on the loyalty of his followers.

As the group drew closer to the camp, Kai diverted from the group, spotting the slithering silver form of the river grazing the edge of the camp and headed towards a deep patch of reeds. Flame slowed as they approached the edge of the camp, but trotted into the reeds anyway.

Kai climbed off of Flame and listened for a moment, hearing the sounds of voices through the whispers of the grass and mumbles of the reeds. He stepped through the cool, shaded reeds, wincing as his feet squished against the moist ground.

Finally he found Skylor in the reeds, talking in a hushed voice to a group around her. He slipped into the back, but she noticed him and nodded slightly. "Alright," She told the group. "Here's the plan."

She drew a rough square on the ground. "Toxicita, take Shade, Karlof, and Pale and create a commotion on the east side of camp to draw Chen into the open." She pointed to the left side of the square.

Tox grinned as she nodded. She understood.

"Chamille, take Griffin, Neuro, and Ronin and cut off the exit points back to camp. We need Chen _trapped_ in the open.

"As soon as you have him trapped, go after anyone who's flanking him, but work in pairs. Don't worry about Chen. Kai and I will take care of that." She drew an X across the square, then stabbed her stick into the earth.

The group mumbled in agreement, heads nodding.

Chamille raised her hand. "Wait, you and _who_ exactly?"

Skylor motioned for Kai to reveal himself with a quick jab of her head. He walked through the group to stand beside her as heads turned and whispers arose.

"Everyone, this is Kai. He's here to help us rid the Steppe of Chen Kahn," Skylor introduced him to the group. Mumblings slowed down as soon as they realized that he was a lot like him. Kai looked around at the small group of people and relaxed. All of them were shepherd-born, none were of high-class or aristocrats. They were simply… like him. All of them were fighting for a better world.

"Should we get going?" Toxicita asked, her green eyes sparkling. Skylor nodded. The group split up, following different leaders and making two small battalions. Skylor led Kai through the reeds and handed him the reins of a fresh horse, a skittish black gelding.

"Come on," She whispered. "We'll head to the eastern hollow. Sounds good?"

"Yeah," Kai blinked. "Hey, you didn't tell me there would be others with us."

"I… I'm sorry," Skylor sighed. "I thought you would've assumed there'd be others helping us. I should've told you directly."

"That's okay," Kai mounted the gelding as Skylor mounted a dappled grey mare beside him. Clicking his tongue, he urged his mount to follow Skylor's into the freezing river, and the horses walked across on the bottom.

"Are… you okay?" Kai asked as they rode around the outside of the camp. "You've been… kind of quiet."

"I could ask you the same," Skylor retorted gently, but the smile on her face faded. "I'm… a little nervous about how this will go, but… it'll probably be fine. What are you thinking about?"

"I feel kind of bad for leaving my family back there… if this doesn't kill me, Cole and Nya will," Kai chuckled. He started slightly at Skylor's nervous expression. "I mean, we're not going to die, Sky. We'll be fine, it was a joke."

Skylor sighed. "I really hope so."

They dissolved into silence once again as the horses carried them through the grasses of the Steppe towards the hollow. Kai almost turned back right then and there, but the idea of Chen's warriors thundering into his camp and attacking his brothers forced him to continue. When Kai was very young, an attacking Clan, the Hands of Time, had destroyed his home, killing his father and taking his mother prisoner. He and Nya had barely escaped by hiding in the tall, thick reeds and moss of a nearby creek.

It panicked Kai to think of Chen's warriors killing Cole or Zane, and taking Nya or Zane's Girlfriend Pixal prisoner. As such, he urged the gelding into a strict canter.

Skylor stopped him on the top of a hill, so they could watch the attack. Kai pulled his katana from his back and held it out, taking a deep breath. He watched Skylor adjust the sinew string on her bow and arch her back, watching for their signal.

Cries of panic rang out over the still morning, muffled by the wind, and Kai's gelding danced nervously. "Skylor?" Kai asked, the wind picking at his words.

"Yes?" Skylor looked up from her bow. "Is this about the horse?"

Kai shook his head. "Hey, um, after this is all over, will you, uh, come back to my camp? I want you to meet my family, but it's alright if you don't want to." He bit his lip. This was so hard! Normally he was calm and cool around girls, but Skylor… did exactly that making his calm, coolness defunct.

"Kai," Skylor urged her mare next to his horse and held out a hand, "I'd love to."

Kai let out a breath he didn't know he was holding, and took her hand, watching as a small procession of warriors surrounding Chen Khan rode out into the open. He squeezed Skylor's hand when he noticed her beginning to tremble with nerves. He'd always thought that her hatred of her father would allow her to fight him easily, but beside him, she just looked… scared. Like how he felt. They were both terrified of what was to come. of what they could do.

A shout rang out from the basin, a loud, whooping cry, and Kai spotted Chamille's group closing off the exit way. He took a deep breath and let go of Skylor's hand.

It was time.

* * *

Skylor felt the way her horse moved under her, thundering towards her father. Towards the man who had caused all of her abuse, all of her issues. The man who must die to save the Steppe. Kai raced alongside her, katana drawn, and brow furrowed. Soon. Soon. Soon.

Chamille's group thundered over the hillsides, picking off a few of Chen's attendants with their arrows and panicking the already frightened horses. Skylor broke away from her straight line and galloped her horse around the outsides of the group, circling like a vulture to look for an opening. Her heart leapt into her throat as arrows whizzed by her.

Kai galloped towards one of Chen's attendants, Skylor's uncle Clouse, who was barely able to pull back his bowstring before Kai made a clean cut across his chest, knocking him from the saddle and into the dirt. Kai pulled back slightly, but wasn't able to control his anxious mount as one of the guards, General Eyezor, flung a sharp sword at Kai, slicing his neck.

Skylor shouted in fear as Kai yelped with surprised pain and was thrown from his horse, landing in the churned mud of many hooves, blood was spraying from his neck and wet his frightened gelding, who galloped off in a panic. Skylor screamed, slapping her mare so hard she forgot the creature beneath her was anything but a vehicle and dogged her enraged father's attendants, flying across the hills towards Kai's limp form.

Dismounting in battle nearly always meant certain death for a rider, but leaving Kai on the ground would mean certain death for him if he bled out or was trampled by the scared horses. Skylor leapt from the saddle, keeping a tight grip on her mare's reins.

"KAI!" Skylor knelt beside him, smacking his ashen cheek gently and wincing as she knelt in the mud made from earth and blood. "Kai, can you hear me?!"

Kai didn't move.

Skylor yanked her mare closer, then she gingerly looped an arm around Kai's waist and lifted him into the saddle, tying him there with the rawhide ropes. Finally, she tore off what remained of his shirt, and, dodging another arrow, packed it into his cut. She dropped the reins and smacked her horse's hindquarters, sending the mare into a panicked gallop.

Chen noticed her and leapt from his own horse, gasping heavily with age and weight. He glared at her, approaching through the grass. His voice boomed across the battlefield. "DAUGHTER!"

Skylor took a breath and strung another arrow into her bow, turning to face her father. Her abuser. The man she must kill. "Father." She fought to keep the fear out of her voice, but it still quivered. She took a deep breath in, holding her head high.

"YOU DARE OPPOSE ME?" Chen roared, his voice causing the battlefield to fall silent as he snarled, pulling his sword and approaching her angrily. "You are but an ungrateful brat. You believe that you can fight me?"

"I know that I must," Skylor took a deep breath, approaching Chen. She twisted her fingers around the arrow in her bow, sweating profusely. "The people of the Steppe will die with you as their leader. I must protect them."

"You know nothing of the Steppe!" Chen howled, furious. "You are a CHILD! YOU CANNOT POSSIBLY UNDERSTAND WHAT I MUST-"

In one fluid motion Skylor lifted her bow, drew back the string, and fired an arrow at her tormentor.

Time stood still. Chen's angry expression dissolved into shock as the arrow pierced his neck, going straight through to the tip of his spine. Blood poured from his neck as he stumbled to the ground.

Then everything was happening too fast. Several others from the resistance whooped in delight at the completion of their target. Chamille and Toxicita rode up to Skylor, both leaping from the saddle to congratulate her on her aim. Skylor too a deep breath.

"KAI!" She spun towards Toxicita. "Can I borrow your horse? Thanks." Without waiting for an answer, Skylor grabbed Tox's horse and slapped the reins, riding off towards the hills her own frightened mare had run to. As soon as she spotted her mare, she whistled for her horse, and the two horses greeted each other as Skylor pulled Kai's unconscious form from her mare's saddle. "Kai, oh, Kai, breathe! BREATHE!" She shouted, slapping his cheek gently. "Come on…"

She noticed that his shirt, though it'd stopped the bleeding, was soaked through. Matting down the grass, Skylor laid Kai on the soft grassy earth and shoved him slightly. She checked his breathing before laying her head against his chest to check for a heartbeat.

He was alive, but weak.

Very weak.

Deathly weak.

Skylor took a deep breath and switched his makeshift bandage from the saddle blanket of one of the horses, tearing it into strips and pressing that into the cut on Kai's neck. Kai himself was silent during the whole ordeal but he began to stir as Skylor wiped some of the clotted dried blood from his face, giving his cheek a gentle kiss.

He blinked his amber eyes pen with a slight whimper, barely able to focus on anything. "S… Sky?" He rasped. "Is izzat you?"

"Yes, Kai," Skylor wiped a piece of Kai's blood-soaked hair from his face and pressed her hand to his cheek. He feebly leaned into it, barely able to smile.

"Thank you," He rasped. "Thank you, thank you, thank you…"

Skylor pulled his head into her lap and caressed his cheeks with her fingers as Kai relaxed against her. "You're going to be fine, Kai.

"I promise."

* * *

Just before sunset, Kai and Skylor were married.

Golden sun rays shone across the hills, lighting the steppe as Kai and Skylor stood upon the hills. After Chen's death, Skylor had come to live with Kai's family, hunting and eating with them, and growing close to them all, but especially Nya and Pixal.

Now, as the sun set beyond the horizon, they exchanged horses, as a wedding custom. The priest of Kai's family group, Mystake, officiated the ceremony, and now, though the scars of their battle with Chen remained, Kai stepped forward towards Skylor.

He held out a silken cord, attached to a proud beige mare, and Skylor accepted it gingerly, the horse moving towards her. She outstretched her own hand, in it was held the silk cord of a fleet-footed white gelding, who shone gold in the setting sun. Kai smiled as he took the horse's cord.

The family erupted into cheers, and Skylor and Kai took one another's hands as they approached the family, smiling. Together.

Cole, Zane, and Jay ran to Kai, shouting and scooping him up to embarrass him the way brothers do. Lloyd tried to join in, but he tripped on a rock and fell over onto Jay, cracking everyone up, including Lloyd himself.

Nya and Pixal laughed as they each congratulated Skylor. Pixal was the most proud, as she and Zane had been married only a few months ago.

When Skylor looked to the Steppe and to this new family, she relaxed. Kai was alive and well, she was safe.

And everything was going to be fine.

**A/N: Eyyy, it's out on time!**

**Also, for those who didn't catch it, the last chapter had a couple references to the SCP Foundation (Dr. Bright, Site 19, and SCP 029). Anyways, I'm glad to have finished this.**

**Although, I have a note to tell you guys. If you guys want something specific, you NEED TO BE CLEAR. TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT! I can't read minds!**

**Anyways, that's it from me!**

**Next time on AU Oneshots: A Mermaid Plasma adventure!**


	27. The Merman In Pearl Bay

**Last Time On AU Oneshots: Kai and Skylor murder Chen (again)**

**Request: ****My request is a Plasma story that involves Kai as a siren and Jay as a sailor. You can take it from there, thanks!**

**Requested by: FloofyBunny788**

**Warnings: n/a**

**Pairings: Plasma! (Kai/Jay)**

**AU: Siren AU!**

**The Merman In Pearl Harbor Part One**

Jay missed home.

Working on the USS _Arizona_ as a mechanic was really, really, really boring. Jay wanted to go home and fix cars with his dad, not sit out here in Hawaii waiting for something to happen. Any news that they got from the War overseas was given on a crackly, broken radio in the mechanics quarters, making Jay even more nervous.

Germany could bomb his parent's home, Italy could invade, anything could happen and he wouldn't be able to help his parents. He hated sitting still and not being able to help with anything. It wasn't like he was eager to fight, but he wished that at least he'd be able to protect those he cared about. This war was the second time the entire world had fought one another, and it hurt Jay to think about what could happen.

Grabbing his toolbox, he headed down to the side of the ship, towards an access panel. He might as well check the exterior of the ship while he was nervous. Fiddling with things helped to get his mind off of his nerves.

Passing by a group of laughing, jeering soldiers, Jay swallowed. He wished that he could be that close to comrades… instead of being the weird nerdy kid, fresh from Ohio, with no knowledge of the way the world truly worked.

Heading down the board docks, Jay stopped at the portside access panel, using his specialized mechanic's key to open it up, and suddenly stopped, hearing the sounds of pounding feet against the dock. He glanced across the pier, spotting two people racing each other down towards the bay, shouting. Jay sighed.

"Probably just some disobedient cadets," He grumbled, digging into the wires and checking for wear and tear as the racers got closer. One whizzed passed, unnatuardly fast for a human, and Jay looked up, startled. "Hey! Stop running!"

"SORRRRRRY!" the second person, a young man around Jay's age shouted, sprinting past him and towards the other person, a girl with dark hair, probably his sister by the resemblance. He was slightly taller than Jay, with dark eyes, skin, and spiked hair. He wasn't wearing a shirt or shoes, but he was wearing a pair of flame-patterned swim trunks.

Well. They definitely weren't cadets then.

The second the girl reached the pier she flung herself into the water without a thought. Jay froze, horrified for a second, before dropping his toolbox and running after the boy. "HEY! STOP! DON'T GET IN, IT'S DANGEROUS!"

The spiky-haired boy whirled around at the last second and grinned at Jay, smiling and saluting, before falling backwards off the pier. Jay shrieked, racing towards the mysterious boy who would dare leap into a ship-filled harbor.

The second he reached the pier, however, Jay realized that…. The boy was gone? Where'd he go?! No one can swim that FAST!? HOW?!

Jay strained his eyes, squinting against the October sun and trying to spot a head bobbing through the harbor, but he couldn't make out anything. What the….? How? Why? People don't just disappear, even handsome Hawaiians. Jay shook his head, swallowing, then checked his watch. He'd have to come back, it was almost time to report to his quarters for evening headcount. However… he'd have to find out what happened to that boy… it just didn't make sense.

Sighing, Jay walked back to his toolbox, and headed back inside the ship, taking a couple of deep breaths. "They… um, they probably knew what they were doing, heh. They'll be fine… it'll be okay." No matter what he told himself, Jay couldn't lose the lump in his throat. Hie couldn't stop thinking about the huge propellers beneath the ships. How heavy a battleship truly was and…

"Arrrg!" Jay shouted, grabbing his head. "Stupid, stupid, stupid! SHUT UP!"

Tonight.

Tonight he'd go out and check for two bodies floating in the ocean.

No, tonight he'd go find the people who leapt off the pier. They were not dead. He wouldn't let them be dead. He had to stop being ridiculous and focus!

Sighing, he left the halls and turned into the crowded mechanic's quarters. Tonight he'd find them.

* * *

Hot, humid Hawaii air rode the wind straight into Jay's face as he slipped out of the USS Arizona and stepped onto the docks. Looking around, he nervously searched the water for blood or bodies or body… parts.

The surf broke gently a few meters from a nearby coast guard ship, washing up on jetties and docks, several feet higher than it was back in the afternoon. The tide had come in at Pearl Harbor.

Jay walked to the end of the dock and sat down, nearly forgetting about his original mission to find the teenagers and relaxing, inhaling the warm, humid night air. Stars sparkled above, not nearly as many as he'd been able to see in his small town in Ohio, but since there was a city behind him, that did make sense.

Something splashed in the water ahead of him, and Jay looked up lazily, expecting to see a fish leaping or a turtle, but instead, he saw what looked like a sea lion head… something dark above water.

He squinted, unable to make out what it was in the moonlight, but when the creature pulled out of the water a second time, Jay gasped. "It's you!"

The boy from the docks was swimming through the harbor, this time without his sister, and with the grace of a shark or sea lion. How… was he doing that?

"Um…" Suddenly shy, Jay found a nearby stack of barrels and life vests, and ducked behind them, peeking out over the tops to watch the swimming boy.

Jay squinted for a second before the young man burst from the water with impossible force, water sloshing all over the pier, a few drops even landed on Jay's head. Jay suddenly tried to gasp, but covered it and choked.

The boy he'd seen earlier had a tail! Not just a tail, but a lionfish tail!

The second he landed, the young Hawaiian's tail turned into a pair of swim-shorts clad legs. Jay's heart pounded in his chest as he watched the merman fluff up his hair and check his complexion in a shiny pothole cover on the ship.

Pausing for a moment to observe the merman's er… swim shorts… Jay remembered the storybook he'd read as a little boy, about the sirens and selkies of the sea. He remembered mermaids, but never considered mermen. He realized that it made sense, a species had to have a male and female to reproduce. His scientist brain was already working it out.

The merman glanced around, looking almost confused. As his amber eyes flicked over the life preservers Jay dove down behind them, his heart pounding. That merman had almost seen him! He was a siren! Sirens ate people!

Jay began to breathe faster, and he grabbed his knees and pulled them up to his chest, gasping for breath. _I shouldn't have gone out, he's seen me and now he's gonna eat me, how would I fight back against a siren? Why aren't I braver?_

"Is someone there?" The merman asked. Jay could hear the slight echo his voice had and closed his eyes, trembling. There were footsteps to his right, and someone nudged Jay's thigh with their foot. "Hey, are you alright?"

Jay peeked out from between his fingers to see the merman staring at him, looking royally confused. He shuddered, but took a deep breath, removing his hands and looking up at the merman, ready to face his death with dignity, at least. "Why do _you_ care?"

"Um, because I'm a nice human being?" the merman boasted, puffing his chest slightly. "Seriously, are you okay, because you look like you've seen a-"

"Merman?" Jay asked, staring up as the spiky-haired merman paled slightly. "That's because I did."

"Ha ha," The Merman laughed nervously, and somehow that made Jay feel a little bit better, and he relaxed slightly. "Um, don't tell anybody about that. If my pod found out that you knew, they'd kill me."

"Heh," Jay couldn't help but chuckle. "Literally or figuratively?"

"Yes," The merman grinned. "I'm Kai, by the way. Who are you?"

"Junior Mechanic Jay Walker," Jay introduced himself with a nod. "But you can call me Jay."

Kai nodded, glancing at the USS Arizona another time. "You work on that?"

"Well, yeah," Jay answered. "We have to keep it running in case the US gets attacked by Germany or Japan."

"Oh, I know," Kai shrugged. "We have to deal with it too, y'know. The submarines are getting really annoying."

"You've seen submarines?" Jay asked, fascinated.

Kai shrugged again. "We don't go near them, but they kick up the soil and kill fish."

"You're not going to… um… eat me or anything, are you?" Jay asked, stepping back from Kai, his fight or flight kicking in all of a sudden.

Kai stared at him for a long moment. "Of course not. We're too closely related. Would you eat a chimp?"

"Well, no…"

"Exactly," Kai answered, motioning for Jay to follow him to sit down at the end of the pier. "There are sirens in Europe that'll kill you, but Pacific Ocean Merfolk don't eat humans."

Jay sighed so hard his entire body slumped over slightly and he caught Kai giving him a bemused look, making the young mechanic's heart jump.

He leaned closer to Kai, and when the merman didn't pull away, he stayed like that, just a bit closer than before. "What do you do all day in the ocean?"

"My sister Nya and I hunt a lot," Kai answered. "That's who was with me this afternoon. We also explore land in our human forms all the time. My parents asked us to get some stuff from the pharmacy on your military base. What do _you_ do all day on that thing?"

"The ship? heh," Jay asked. "Well, um, I fix things, y'know. That's what we mechanics do."

"Are you nervous about something?" Kai asked.

"No, why?"

"No reason," The merman shrugged. "You're acting kind of like one of the members of my pod when she gets nervous. You're doing the same things with your eyes."

Jay bit his lip, unsure of how to feel about Kai having a mer_maid_ to worry about. Well, he hardly knew the merman, and besides, Kai had a life and friends outside of the military, unlike Jay, so he should stop- "I'm worried about my family," Jay offered suddenly, surprising himself and cutting off his own thought process. "My mom and dad. If Germany attacks my home, they'd die."

Kai nodded, listening intently, it seemed. "You must be terrified."

"I… I am," Jay sighed. It felt good to admit it. He did feel terrified. He was scared. He wasn't just overreacting. It was okay to be scared. For the first time since deployment, Jay smiled.

Kai grinned at him. "There's something I want to show you real quick."

"Wha-"

Kai slid off the dock, into the inky water, and looked up at Jay. "Come on, it'll be quick."

"Well, I don't know…"

"I'm not gonna eat you if you're still worried about that."

"No, I-"

"Well, what's stopping you?"

Jay glanced around, making sure that no supervising officers were nearby before he gingerly slipped into the warm, inky water, clinging to a rope nearby. "I… I'm not super good at swimming, Kai…"

"That's fine," Kai answered, shaking his head, the lionfish quills around his ears rattling together like some sort of merman maraca. "Here, hold onto my shoulders."

Jay nervously let go of the rope, reaching forwards and grabbing Kai's thick, muscular shoulders. He shuddered slightly, but as soon as his grip was tight enough, Kai pushed off with his tail and shot through the water at least 50 miles an hour.

Jay shrieked slightly, gripping harder, and shutting his eyes. Yup. He was gonna die. He was gonna die and this was gonna kill him and-

"Jay?" Kai asked, slowing to a stop. "Hey, we're here."

Jay peaked his eyes open and gasped. Ahead of him was the widest, highest sky he'd ever seen. So. Many. Stars. Everywhere. The sky was practically sliver! Did mermaids see this every day? Why did Kai take him here? Glancing behind himself, Jay spotted the island far off to the north, just a jumble of dark shapes in the darkness.

"Woah…" Jay breathed, searching for the big bear and north star. Waves lapped at him, and Kai twisted around, placing Jay gingerly on his tail so the mechanic wouldn't have to tread water. Jay smiled slightly in the darkness, feeling a lionfish spine gently brushing his legs, and he leaned back, gazing upwards.

"Well, what do you think?" Kai asked, looking around at Jay. "You act like you've never seen stars before."

"Not like this," Jay shook his head. 'Is it like this every night?"

"When there aren't clouds, yes."

Jay smiled again, leaning back a bit more, watching the stars again. "It's almost like… there can't be anything bad in the world with a sky like this."

"Mhmm," Kai blinked lazily, looping an arm around Jay and swimming back a bit more. "Hey, I'm gonna take you home. Do you want to meet up again?"

Jay smiled breathlessly. "Yes."

Kai swirled around, waiting until Jay had gotten a grip before he took off into the night towards Pearl Harbor.

Jay looked ahead, and his heart filled with exhilaration. Nothing would happen to his parents. For a moment, it seemed that his worries had vanished completely.

And for the first time in weeks, riding a merman piggyback towards a military base, Jay relaxed.

* * *

**This is a part one of two, there will be more!**

**Anyway, this was fun, I'm glad to be back from my trip. I also hope nobody minded me racebending Kai and Nya to be Hawaiian (if it bothers people, I'll remove it). Also, I know that some people who've reviewed the original chapter (the note) won't be able to review. Use a guest review, or send me a PM!**

**Next time on AU Oneshots: A Greenflame based on Joey Graceffa's 'Don't Wait' music video. (basically more medieval-themed Greenflame because I am LIVING for medieval Greenflame lol)**


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